Here With Me
by Gaby Black
Summary: COMPLETE! A story of friendship, love and arguments set in the Marauders' 6th and 7th years. How will James and Lily get together while she positively hates him? Meanwhile, Sirius lives another lovehate relationship. JL, SBOC, RLOC
1. Waiting For You

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters (except for Venus, Anna and so on), spells, places etc mentioned, they are JK Rowling's. I am not making any money out of this story.

**Genre: **romance, friendship

**Pairings:** James/Lily, Sirius/OC, Remus/OC (please don't be prejudiced against this!)

**Author's note:** I'm revising this story as of June, 2008. Please review! Thank you.

* * *

1

Waiting For You

"_Accio_ Map!"

The Marauders' Map flew from the boys' hands and landed in the firm grip of Venusta Vance. In Latin, the word "venusta" meant beauty, charm and elegance, which was a good definition for the girl; she had long, straight black hair and beautiful, wide eyes hovering between green and yellow. However, being one of the best-looking girls in Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry wasn't a big deal for this sixteen-year old witch; she preferred hanging around with her best friends than dating stupid boys, to the great dismay of the said boys.

"What is this?" Venus wondered aloud, a curious smile lighting up her face as writing began to appear on the map:

_Mr Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present THE MARAUDER__S' MAP _

"Give that back to me, Venusta," Sirius Black snarled from his armchair near the fireplace.

Knowing her for years, he was perfectly aware that she didn't like her full name and preferred being called Venus. But Sirius loved teasing people. Especially girls. And especially Venus. Both of them were pure bloods and therefore somehow related, although they didn't even know which relatives they had in common. Pure bloods wizards were all related, but Sirius and Venus couldn't consider that they were of the same family.

However, they did look like each other: Sirius had the same dark hair and the same eyes, although his were more often sparkling with amusement. His handsome features were usually lit up by laughter, whereas Venus often wore a sarcastic expression on her face. Both of them were tall and good in class, although Sirius never seemed to study. All in the head, as he and his best friend, James Potter used to say. Messy, jet-black hair and sparkling hazel eyes behind round glasses: James was sitting next to Sirius. They hardly ever appeared to be separated; after six years of friendship, they were more like brothers than best friends.

Sitting next to them were the two last Marauders: Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Remus was a quiet, clever boy who had amber eyes and a shy smile; however, for reasons unknown to most of the pupils in Hogwarts, he happened to have a few grey hair and a permanently tired expression. At first sight, Peter looked somewhat insignificant compared to his three fellows Marauders, who had brains, looks and fame; he was small, clumsy, rather fat and far from being top of the class. But it was he who tied the Marauders together, he who had first made friends with James.

"_Accio_ Map!" Sirius said exasperatedly, raising his wand. "What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

It was indeed one o'clock, and the warm and welcoming Gryffindor common room was empty except for the Marauders and Venus.

"I could ask you the same question!" Venus looked outraged, but decided to answer anyway. "I wasn't sleeping; I heard a loud noise so I came down to see what had happened."

Sirius and James shot Peter a reproving look; he had dropped a big candelabra that decorated the fireplace, which had landed on the floor, breaking with a loud bang. Peter gave a weak squeak and looked away.

"And - how surprisingly," Venus kept on sarcastically, "I find you four here. What the hell are you doing? Going to lose points for Gryffindor again?"

"This is none of your business," Sirius snapped.

"Oh, yes, Black, it is," Venus snarled back. "Unfortunately, I happen to be in the same house as you. But if you do something - whatever, I'll go and wake Lily up, and we'll go straight to McGonagall tomorrow."

At the mention of Lily, James's eyes lit up; Lily Evans, Gryffindor Prefect and Venus's best friend, was his dream girl for years. Usually, James could have a girl easily; but not Lily Evans: she seemed to hate him.

"But we haven't done anything, have we?" James said innocently, speaking for the first time. "We were just...talking."

Venus eyed him suspiciously, knowing that he was up to something; the Marauders were keen on all kinds of pranks, jokes and mischief. Actually, that night, they were elaborating projects for the full moon, which was two days away. The reason the four boys were so interested in the date of the full moon was that Remus was a werewolf; he had been bitten when he was a little child. When they had learnt it, Sirius, James and Peter, far from rejecting their friend, had decided to become Animagi to keep Remus company during the nights when he transformed. In their fifth year, they finally managed: Sirius became a large, black dog, James a magnificent stag, and Peter a small rat.

"Go back to bed, Venusta," Sirius sneered. "You wouldn't want to be sleeping during class tomorrow, now would you?"

But Venus stood still, staring at them severely.

"I will do whatever I want," Venus replied fiercely. "I will stay here until _you_ go to bed."

"If you want, you can even follow me to my bed," Sirius said in honey tones, but Venus happened not to blush at that comment.

She made her way towards them, took the seat next to Remus, and waited. She had always wondered why he stayed with Sirius, who was such an idiot. Even though she admitted James was arrogant too, she liked him very much; moreover, he was the Quidditch captain, and she just loved Quidditch. The Marauders couldn't do anything while Venus was there, so they had to come up with a new plan soon, and this wasn't very difficult. James yawned hugely and stood up.

"I'm so tired," James said. "I'm off to bed. Are you coming, guys?"

James winked at Sirius and Remus, who immediately understood what James was up to and stood up as well. Peter, however, looked clueless as usual, but he just did what his friends did.

"Why do I have the impression that it's just a plan of yours?" Venus said suspiciously.

James turned to her and gave her a condescending smile.

"You're paranoid, Venus dear," James said, winking.

Venus rolled her eyes and watched as the four boys made their way up to their dormitory. She sighed and, guessing that she'd better go back to bed and try to sleep, climbed up the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories.

A few minutes later, the four boys made their way back towards the common room, this time under James's Invisibility Cloak.

"She's gone," James whispered. "Now, how about a walk near the lake? I don't feel like sleeping at all."

His friends nodded, and the four of them made their slow and cautious way out of the castle.

* * *

When Venus woke up on the next day and drew the curtains of her four-poster bed open, she immediately informed Lily about her meeting with the Marauders the previous night. Lily listened to her with a look of dismay on her pretty face, her bright green eyes widening. She unconsciously ran a hair through her thick, dark red hair, mimicking the usual gesture of the very boy she disliked.

"They were up to something again, I'm sure," Lily replied, sighing. "But what can we possibly do to stop them? Nothing, I'm afraid."

But Venus looked thoughtful.

"Maybe we can - I mean we can't have tried everything, can we? I'll think about it in History of Magic."

As she had expected, Lily looked revolted. She was the best student in their class and always paid attention to the lesson, more than everyone else Venus had ever met.

"Venus, you can't do that," spoke a sleepy but amused voice from behind the curtains of the nearest bed.

A few seconds later, Anna Ripperton's blonde head appeared as she drew the curtains open. Anna was Muggle-born, like Lily; she had honey-coloured, short hair and soft brown eyes. She was smaller than Lily and Venus and less tempered.

"Anyway, come on, girls or we'll be late," Lily urged and the three friends made their way down towards the Great Hall.

* * *

"What are we doing tonight?" Sirius asked, his mouth full of food.

"I thought we could explore that tunnel we discovered last night, behind the Blind Wizard's statue," James replied excitedly.

"Oh, guys, couldn't we just rest for once," Remus complained. "If we keep on like that, you'll have to drag me you-know-where tomorrow."

Although his voice was low, Remus was still afraid that someone would discover his secret, though, thanks to James, most of his classmates believed he just had a problem with a badly-behaved rabbit.

"Fine," James sighed. "We'll go without you."

"Hum, we're forgetting something, Prongs," Sirius said. "Quidditch practise."

"Oh, right," James sighed. "By the way, I have to tell Venus about the new tactic I came up with."

"Couldn't you just tell her to go to hell and send us a postcard?" Sirius suggested hopefully.

"Sirius, she's the best Chaser in the team," James replied earnestly.

"I know," Sirius scowled.

Venus was one of the only girls in the school that didn't seem to be affected by his charm, and that just pissed him off.

"And try to be nicer to her," James said casually. "She's Lily's best friend after all."

Sirius _accidentally_ spilt his pumpkin juice on James's plate, but the dark-haired boy didn't seem to mind as the object of his affection had just sat down a few seats away.

"Hi, Lily!" James said cheerfully, turning his full attention to her.

"Potter," Lily replied quite stiffly. "I'd just like to let you know that I'm waiting for anything that you four do wrong to go straight to McGonagall. Understand?"

James smiled sheepishly and nodded. As he opened his mouth to say something, she said:

"I happen to be in a hurry, so please don't bother me today, for God's sake."

"Right, if I can't even be nice to you, I don't know what I can do," James snapped, sick and tired of her behaviour; he was only trying to start a conversation, and, as always, she snarled at him.

"Perfect, then don't say anything."

With that, Lily turned and began filling her plate with sausages.

"Bad luck, Prongs," Remus said softly.

James smiled sadly. The worst was that the more she pushed him away, the more he loved her. He was still in love with her even after all these years; it wasn't a teenage crush, and, whatever anybody would say about it, James knew it was Love. A love like that only happened once in a lifetime; so he kept waiting.


	2. Too Much To Ask

2

Too Much To Ask

In the evening, as Venus had Quidditch practice, Anna and Venus went to the library to start their Defence Against the Dark Arts essay, which had for subject: "the Unforgivable Curses and how to resist them". As soon, as they entered the quiet library, they spotted Remus sitting on his own, books open in front of him.

"Oh, look who's here," Lily said softly, looking into her friend's eyes. "Remus."

Anna rolled her eyes but blushed slightly nevertheless. She had fancied Remus since their fifth year, but was too shy to tell him. Lily smirked as they made their way towards him.

"Hi," the girls said.

Remus jumped slightly with surprise and then looked up and smiled when he saw who it was.

"Hey, Lily, Anna. What are you up to?"

"Going to do our DADA essay," Lily answered, grinning back at him.

"That's what I'm doing," Remus said quite nervously. "Want to join me? We can each search for one spell so it will be quicker."

The girls agreed and sat down in front of him, taking one of the numerous old books on the table.

"I take the Imperius Curse," Lily said quickly.

"And I the Cruciatus Curse," Remus said.

"Fine, I'll take Avada Kedavra," Anna rolled her eyes, grabbing a thin book called _The Killing Curse_ with a shudder.

For a while, they flicked through the pages of their books silently, occasionally scribbling something down. Suddenly, Anna let out a gasp.

"What's wrong, Anna?" Lily asked, looking up from _The Dangers Of The Imperius Curse_, and throwing her best friend a worried look.

"It's just that I found out how many people resisted to this spell," Anna whispered, looking startled. "No one."

They looked at each other very uneasily, and then wrote down on their parchments with slightly shaking hands: _the Killing Curse cannot be resisted_.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the Quidditch pitch, Venus was not having much fun either.

"BLACK!" Venus shouted. "Why did you throw the Bludger at me?"

Venus was flying quickly and furiously towards Sirius. She had just been nearly hit by a Bludger, which had passed an inch above her head.

"I didn't throw anything at you," Sirius said innocently, but his eyes were sparkling dangerously.

"A Beater is supposed to watch out for the other players, to make sure they're not hit!" Venus kept on yelling, pointing at him threateningly. "Not throw the Bludger at them!"

"What's going on?" spoke James's voice from above.

They both looked up at him and started speaking at the same time.

"Prongs, she's completely mad and paranoid -"

"He threw the Bludger at me! I could have been hurt and-"

"Shut up," James said wearily, staring at them and frowning. "I guess I'd better leave you to it."

With that, he flew away, pretending to have seen the Snitch.

"What?" Venus yelled after him. "You aren't going to do anything?"

Venus sighed and turned to Sirius, who was smiling.

"I swear I didn't do anything," Sirius said.

"Of course," Venus rolled her eyes. "You are certainly the most innocent person I know, Sirius Black."

One hour later, the seven Gryffindors entered the changing rooms, exhausted and cold. Venus was still not talking to Sirius and James (not that it made any difference), and she was still angry with them. The team remained silent while they changed into their uniforms, and the first to leave where the two other Chasers, Maia Brandy and David Jordan. Sirius and James followed them, which left only Venus and Mark Riley, the Keeper. He was a seventh year, tall, with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes; they had dated for three weeks last year, but Venus had decided to break up, since she had realized that she didn't really love him and wanted to spare him the pain, in case he fell in love with her.

"Venus," Mark said softly. "You are so beautiful tonight."

She did her best not to roll her eyes. She didn't think that with her Quidditch robes and her hair flying everywhere like that, she could look beautiful. But still, Mark always said things like that to her, even after they had broken up.

"Are you sure you don't want to give me a second chance?" Mark whispered, getting closer to her, his eyes looking dangerously dark. "If only you knew how much I love you -"

Suddenly, he grabbed her and pulled her towards him, pressing his cold lips against her -

There was a loud noise as the door was thrown open and someone walked in quickly, as though in a hurry. Sirius's jaw dropped open when he saw Venus trying desperately to get away from Mark's grip, and he understood immediately. He ran to them at once, taking Mark by the shoulders and throwing him against the wall.

Sirius looked down at him with a look of disgust on his face. "Don't you ever touch her again," Sirius spat.

Mark, though taller than Sirius, looked very small compared to him at that moment. Behind Sirius, Venus was staring at them in shock. Sirius took a step back and Mark stood up quickly, touching his head and wincing in pain, and then ran away.

There was an awkward silence.

"Well, thanks, I guess," Venus said in a small voice.

"I came back because I had forgotten something," Sirius replied rather gloomily, looking as if he hadn't heard her and taking something in his locker.

When he turned back to her, Venus could tell that he was still angry because of the way his eyes were flashing, and the way his features contracted, drawing a thin line on his brow. Suddenly, it struck her how well she knew him, even if she didn't want to admit it. In silence, they made their way outside in the dark, cold January evening, towards the castle.

"I suppose I don't need to apologize, seeing that I just saved your life," Sirius said earnestly as they opened the oak door.

Venus let out a nervous laughter that sounded more like Sirius's bark-like laughter than she had wanted.

"Don't you think you're a bit exaggerating? And I thought you were innocent for the Bludger."

Sirius didn't need to answer because a girl came running towards them. She was younger and smaller than Venus, and despite having auburn hair and dark eyes full of flames, Sirius could tell that she was Venus's little sister.

"Hi, Iris," Venus said, trying not to sound too weary. "I've just had Quidditch practise, so if you don't mind, I'm going straight to dinner."

Iris looked at them curiously, walking along with them as they made their way towards the Great Hall. Iris told Venus about something she had done in class, but Sirius wasn't quite listening.

"Nice girl," Sirius commented in an expert tone when Iris had sat down with her friends and Venus and he were walking to the other end of the Gryffindor table, where the sixth years ate.

"Don't dream about it, she's only thirteen," Venus said warily. "Not that this kind of thing stops you, of course," she added as an afterthought. "I heard you snogged a third year Ravenclaw last week."

"Just rumours," Sirius protested, but smiling modestly nevertheless.

"I've already warned her about you anyway," Venus kept on.

Sirius chuckled. "You know what you should do? Make a huge banner in the Great Hall, which would read 'Beware of Sirius Black, the man-whore'."

"That would be a good idea," Venus said half-sarcastically as she sat down between Lily and Anna.

At Lily's right sat James Potter, to her dismay. For the moment he was talking with Remus and Peter, as Lily was in deep conversation with Anna.

"Why are you still addicted to Lily after all this time?" Remus was whispering, grinning. "I mean, Lily's really nice, but there are plenty of other girls."

Now that James really though about it, he found that he couldn't answer. Of course, Lily was beautiful, intelligent and nice, well, not with him, but with the majority, but there had to be something else…

"I don't know," James replied thoughtfully. "She has this thing that makes the other girls look trivial; I don't even see them."

"Stop it, James, or I'm going to cry," Sirius snickered as he sat down.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Well, I thought it was rather cute."

"Ha, you were always the romantic one, Moony," Sirius laughed.

"I don't see what's wrong about that," Remus replied, slightly aggrieved.

"Let it drop, Moony," James said. "When it comes to love you know Sirius isn't a specialist."

"What does that mean?" Sirius asked warily.

"That means," James replied, "that seeing that you've never fallen in love, you can't say anything."

"Who said I've never fallen in love?"

Remus and James shared a look and rolled their eyes. Sirius had dated a dozen of girls, and none of them had lasted more than a week, as Sirius was, as he said, "allergic to commitment". James looked at Lily next to him; she was laughing her head off. Just sitting next to her for dinner was great, but he wished he could make her laugh like that. The only problem was that she seemed to be always in a bad mood when he was near her.

"What are you staring at, Potter?" Lily said sharply. "It's already bad enough for me to have you sitting next to me, so would you please stop being such a pain in the neck."

"I didn't do anything," James mumbled, looking down at his plate dejectedly.


	3. A Revelation & An Attack

3

A Revelation & An Attack

On the next day, Lily, Anna and Venus made their way reluctantly towards the dungeons, where they had Potions class with the Slytherins, to their great despair.

"Sit down," hissed Professor Lestrange.

The Potions Master happened to be the Head of the Slytherin house, therefore he was the teacher most of the pupils liked least. He was tall, old and had long and unkept black hair, with some grey in it; his dark eyes gleamed nastily as he looked at the pupils.

"What happened to Lupin?" he barked.

"He's ill," Sirius replied, a defiant expression on his face. "He has the flu."

More than anyone, Sirius loathed Professor Lestrange because he was a pureblood, and most of them hated Muggles and Muggle-borns; moreover, Sirius suspected him strongly of being a Death Eater, one of Lord Voldemort's supporters. But Linus Lestrange had never been accused and Sirius supposed that if Dumbledore kept him in Hogwarts, it's that he was sure he wasn't a Death Eater.

Moreover, Lestrange's son Rodolphus, who had graduated two years ago, was Bellatrix Black's boyfriend. Bellatrix, Sirius's cousin, was of the people he hated the most; she was older than him and had graduated from Hogwarts a few years ago. Although she unfortunately happened to look a bit like him, she was crazy and evil, always glad to have an occasion to taunt Muggle-borns. If she wasn't already a Death Eater, Sirius was sure she was going to be one soon.

James and he had already talked to Dumbledore about Linus Lestrange last year, but he had told them that he was not responsible of his son's activities and mistakes, and that he had evidence that Professor Lestrange wasn't a Death Eater. But that hadn't stopped Sirius and James's wariness and hatred for Lestrange and Potions.

"Again?" Lestrange said, not sounding sympathetic at all. "Anyway, today you are going to prepare the Shrinking Solution. As I hope you have noticed, you already prepared this in your third year, so I expect you to remember the ingredients needed to make it. You will find them here," he finished, motioning to a big box on a table.

With that, he sat down with a smirk on his face as all the pupils were gazing at him, their mouths hanging open in disbelief. All the pupils except for Lily Evans: she was the only one who appeared to remember the dosages of the ingredients of a potion they had studied years ago.

"Thank God we have you," Anna whispered.

"Yeah," Venus nodded. "Sometimes I'm thankful that you seem to know all the books by heart, Lily."

"And Miss Evans, you're not going to help your classmates," Lestrange said coldly. "Individual work."

Venus snorted defiantly as Lily quickly wrote down the list of ingredients to her best friends.

"We'll go and get them," Lily and Venus said and they made their way towards the table, looking at the list and grabbing things such as roots and Shrivelfigs.

"Hey, Anna."

Anna jumped slightly and turned to see James, Sirius and Peter staring at her expectantly.

James gave her his most charming smile. "Could you give us the list, please?"

Anna narrowed her eyes slightly and sighed. She didn't know what to do, because if Venus and she didn't know the ingredients and were helped by Lily, why couldn't they be helped too? But if Lily found out, she was going to be angry with her.

"All right, here you go," Anna rolled her eyes, handing them the parchment.

"Thank you," Sirius sighed of relief, smiling broadly at her. "You're an angel."

Anna turned, shaking her head but blushing slightly nevertheless. James passed her the list which he had copied just before Lily and Venus came back. Perfect timing, Anna thought, relieved.

During the rest of the lesson, they put things in their boiling cauldrons, most pupils doing this at random: the only ones who knew what they were doing were Lily's and James's groups, plus the Slytherins because Lestrange gave them hints as he passed in the rows. At the end of the class, only three groups had managed to do the Potion right: Anna, Lily and Venus, Sirius, James and Peter, and a group of three Slytherins. There were Severus Snape, Rufus McNair and Paulus Rosier, who was the captain of the Slytherin's Quidditch team.

Severus Snape had greasy, dark hair that fell over his narrow, black eyes. He was Sirius and James's best enemy and they were always ready to make fun of him; but Snape happened to be very good at Potions, which was pretty much the only thing he was good at.

After one long hour in the coldness of the dungeons, the pupils were glad to climb up the stairs and find the warmth of the castle. James, Sirius and Peter walked away quickly, as they wanted to go and visit Remus.

As Lily headed, alone, for her Arithmancy classroom (Venus and Anna, like most of the pupils, had chosen to study Divination, but Lily thought it was very woolly and less interesting than Arithmancy), she passed by the corridor where the infirmary was located. She frowned as she saw James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew stepping out of it and walking away, closing the door behind them. Then she remembered that they had said back in Potions class that Remus was ill and resting in the hospital wing; she decided to stop by a few minutes as her Arithmancy lesson only started ten minutes later. Moreover, she needed to talk to Remus. She opened the door and made her way silently towards the only bed that was occupied, thankful that Madam Pomfrey didn't seem to be there.

"Good morning," Lily said softly, sitting on the chair next to the bed.

Relys opened his weary eyes slowly, as this simple action caused him pain; he looked more tired than ever.

"Lily," Remus replied, his voice barely more than a whisper. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see how you were feeling," Lily answered. "Potter and Black said you were in the hospital wing because of a bad flu. I'm lucky Madam Pomfrey isn't here, though. She'd be mad at me."

Remus nodded in agreement and forced a small smile to appear on his pale face. Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, didn't allow visitors when her patients had to rest.

"But, Remus," Lily went on, more carefully. "You don't have flu, do you?"

Now, his eyes showed fear and wariness. Was it possible? No, she couldn't know...

"Why do you say that?" Remus asked, his voice shaking slightly with nervousness.

"It's just that tonight is a full moon, and I've noticed for a few months that you're always absent or ill just before and after the full moons. Everything made sense."

Remus looked away, holding his breath; he had always been scared of the others' reactions to his secret; that was why his parents, Dumbledore, Sirius, James and Peter were the only ones who knew he was a werewolf. And now there was Lily, too.

"You know, I'm even surprised you didn't find out before," Remus murmured after a silence.

Remus still refused to glance at her, afraid of seeing the shocked and disgusted expression on her face and the fear in her eyes. But when she gently moved his chin to the right to force him to look at her, he realized that she was staring at him the way she usually did, friendly and kindly.

"I don't care," Lily whispered. "You're still the Remus Lupin that I know, and it's all that matters to me."

Remus sighed of relief; she was reacting much like James, Sirius and Peter had, years ago. She understood the pleading in his eyes.

"I won't tell anyone," Lily took his hand and squeezed it gently. "You have my word."

"Thank you."

For a few seconds, they remained in comfortable silence, until Lily released her grip on his hand.

"So, I saw Potter, Black and Pettigrew leaving," Lily said, her voice a little bit harder.

"Yes, they always come to visit me. You know, Lily, you can reproach a lot of things to James," Remus replied, his eyes twinkling suddenly. "But he's a faithful friend, and he far from rejected me when he...learnt. He is a good person deep inside."

Lily shrugged and seemed to think about it.

"Yeah, deep inside, maybe," Lily said, smiling. "I suppose you're right. Anyway, I've got to go now or I'll be late for class. Be on feet soon because one prefect won't be enough to stop Black and Potter."

Lily winked at him as she stood up and he rolled his eyes.

"As if I had the slightest bit of influence on them."

* * *

After her Arithmancy lesson, Lily met a group of Slytherins while she was walking by a dark corridor of the second floor. The only ones she knew were Pandora McNair and her brother, Rufus McNair. She didn't know the others' names (there were one girl and two boys), but she knew they were in Slytherin, for they loved to snarl at her.

"Oh, look who's here," Rufus said happily. "The filthy little Mudblood."

Before Lily realized it, they were surrounding her, their sneering faces gleaming with delight.

"_Rictusempra_!" Rufus cried, pointing his wand at Lily.

Suddenly, Lily began laughing uncontrollably, of a fake laughter that hurt and made her fall onto the ground. When she eventually stopped laughing, she looked up at them, her eyes dark.

"Stop it," Lily said in a weaker voice that she had wanted, but that only made their laughter increase; she raised her wand in a desperate attempt to fight back. "_Impedi_ -"

"_Locomotor Motris_!" Pandora McNair interrupted, and a flash of purple light left her wand; Lily's legs were now jammed and she couldn't stand up.

"Six against one, don't you think that's a bit unfair?" Lily said, choking back tears. "Or maybe you're too afraid of fighting -"

"Shut up, you ugly, stupid Mudblood," one of the boys cut in fiercely. "You're only getting what you deserve; Muggles like you shouldn't be accepted to Hogwarts."

Lily felt tears in her eyes as they made fun of her; even if she knew they attacked her only because she wasn't a pure-blood, and not because they really thought she was ugly and stupid, she couldn't help but was wounded by their taunts. What if they were right? _No, Lily, they aren't_, she said to herself. _Don't let them get to you. _

But she couldn't help it; and she was angry with herself for being afraid of them. She knew they were capable of everything; she was worried for her family: these days, more and more Muggle families were killed by Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

Rufus McNair kicked her hard in the ribs, and she was too sore and shocked to do anything. Their laughter echoed long after they had walked away, leaving Lily lying alone on the ground, still in pain, both physically and mentally.

"_Finite Incantatem_," Lily finally whispered, aiming her wand at herself so that her legs were free again.

Lily stood up, wincing because her ribs still hurt, and slowly descended the stairs. When she reached the first floor, she heard familiar voices; she didn't want to see anyone but had to pass by this corridor to go outside, where she could be alone.

"You will regret that, Snivellus," James Potter was snarling. "_Rictus_- "

"STOP!" Lily yelled, and all heads turned to her.

Lily was in the corridor of the Divination's classroom, which was why James, Sirius, Peter, Anna, Venus and Snape were standing there. James had his wand aimed at Snape; Sirius was next to James and the others were behind them. Lily was furious, she wasn't going to let James hex Snape for no reason like the Slytherins did to her, even if Snape himself was a Slytherin. Nobody deserved that.

"I'll tell McGonagall about this, Potter!"

"But, Lily," Venus protested. "Snape provoked James! He insulted him, Anna and I can swear, this time he -"

"I don't care!" Lily shouted. "I - I just don't give a damn about his excuses!"

"Lily?" Venus goggled at her. "Are you okay? What happened? Why are you weeping?"

It was only when Venus made this comment that Lily realized that tears were still rolling down her cheeks; she buried her face in her hands and ran and stopped only when she had reached the park. Walking quickly into the cold, windy winter day, she sat down under a tree and cried her heart out, feeling dumber than ever. Why didn't she fight back? Why, she who wanted to be an Auror, did she let them hex her? _I'm just a fool_, she said to herself. _Not even able to fight back. _

Soon she heard quick footsteps and Anna and Venus sat on either side of her. Lily tried to wipe her cheeks but he was too late; her best friends were looking at her with growing concern.

"Come on, Lily," Anna said softly. "Tell us."

And she did, feeling worse and worse, especially when she mentioned the moment when she was so afraid that she was frozen.

"And they told me that I was just a stupid, ugly Mudblood," Lily said tearfully. "But maybe they're right, maybe -"

"Lily!" Venus protested. "I don't want you to ever listen to these bastards! You are the most beautiful and intelligent girl that I know."

"She's right," Anna said gently. "And we mean it."

Lily's face broke into an uncertain smile as her best friends hugged her. When they pulled back, she looked at them both and sighed. She felt only slightly better, but thankful that they were there with her to try and cheer her up, even if she felt so bad that it wasn't enough.

"I don't know what I'd do without you two," Lily whispered.


	4. I Somenly Swear I Am Up To No Good

4

I Solemnly Swear I Am Up To No Good

On the next day, Lily was relieved that they didn't have any lesson with the Slytherins, and tried not to think about what had happened the day before. They had just had lunch and were in the common room, warming up next to the fire. Sirius and James were playing chess near the window, Peter watching them in awe. Remus had his nose in a book; Lily and Anna were studying for the Transfiguration test they had one hour later, while Venus was staring at the fire thoughtfully, so that the common room was silent except for Sirius, who never seemed to be running out of words.

"You know," Venus said suddenly, "I told you I would think about something to stop the Marauders."

Lily made a sceptical noise to make known to Venus that she had heard her, but didn't look up.

"So I thought that even if we can't stop them, we can at least follow them," Venus kept on. "And...I don't know, see what they do and how they do it."

This time, her friends looked up; there was an unusual twinkle in Venus's cat-like eyes. Lily strongly suspected that Venus didn't want to know what the Marauders were doing so that they would stop; she rather thought Venus would like to be a part of their mischief.

"I don't think they'll do anything tonight, seeing that Remus is ill," Lily said.

Lily had kept her promise and had not said anything to her best friends, even though it was pretty difficult; she wondered how they hadn't figured out Remus's secret yet.

"I think they will," Anna contradicted. "Look at their faces, they must have done something last night."

Sirius, James and Peter looked indeed very tired, as though they had been up all night; however, that didn't stop them from being as arrogant and as noisy as usual.

"So we'll just hide behind those armchairs," Venus motioned to the armchairs where they were sitting. "We won't be seen from the stairs that lead to the boys' dormitories, so I don't think they will see us. We'll wait for them to go down from the boys' dormitories, and then we'll follow them. Are you with me?"

"Huh-huh," the two other girls replied, which less enthusiasm.

Of course, they wanted to know what James, Sirius and Peter were up to, and maybe even try to stop them, but they weren't sure Venus's plan was enough: with the Marauders, they had to expect everything.

* * *

"Hand me back your tests, now," McGonagall ordered and began walking through the rows.

Some pupils looked relieved and rather satisfied with themselves; others, like Peter Pettigrew, who was sure he had failed the test dramatically, seemed devastated. Sirius and James, of course, were part of the first category.

"How did it go?" Sirius asked Peter and James, faking concern once the pupils were dismissed. "Personally, I thought it was rather easy, although I'm not sure I'll get more than an "A"."

Being Animagi, Sirius and James were the best pupils at Transfiguration, which was why James and Peter knew he was kidding.

"It was a piece of cake," James smiled, sounding very self-confident as usual.

The three of them were about to step out of the classroom when McGonagall spoke.

"Mr Potter, Mr Black, I'd like a word."

"Words of doom," Sirius whispered, rolling his eyes.

"Did we do something wrong, Professor?" James asked innocently as Sirius and he made their way towards her desk.

"I hope not, Mr Potter," McGonagall said, not knowing whether to smile or not. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about Mr Pettigrew. Next lesson we will start human transformations, which are more difficult and dangerous than anything we have done before. Therefore, I am afraid Mr Pettigrew will need your help even more than usual."

Both of them nodded, used to helping Peter; they had never minded much.

"Of course, tell Mr Lupin that he will have to help too, he is a Prefect after all. You can go now," McGonagall gestured towards the door.

"Have a nice day, Professor," James smiled, and Sirius and he made their way out of the classroom, where Peter was waiting for them.

McGonagall watched them leave, her stern expression mixed with slight amusement; even if they were the best troublemakers Hogwarts had ever known, everybody knew that she had a soft spot for James Potter and Sirius Black.

* * *

"This sucks," Sirius complained as James and he made their way towards the Divination classroom.

It was seven o'clock and they had just had an early dinner; outside, the night had fallen and the corridors were dark.

"I can't believe we're missing Quidditch practise," James sighed. "What are they going to do without me?"

Sirius glanced sideways at his best friend; after all this time he wasn't very surprised to see that James didn't seem to notice that he was being arrogant.

"Why did she give us detention?" Sirius wondered aloud. "I mean, I was only telling the truth."

During the Divination lesson that afternoon, Sirius had fallen asleep; it had happened several times before since their third year, only that this time, Professor Yang had noticed it. She had asked him how he could fall asleep while she was talking about the fascinating mysteries of the ancient Greek prophecies; and Sirius had naturally replied that it was the most boring thing he had ever heard, even worse than Professor Binns talking about Goblin's revolts during the sixteenth century, which was saying a lot.

"Of course you were," James approved. "And she gave me detention just because you said that and I laughed. Honestly."

They sighed. Usually, James and Sirius weren't too sad when they got detention; actually, they even made a contest to see who got the greatest number of hours of detention. They had started it in their first year, and still kept track. As Sirius loved to remind James, he was on first place with more than a hundred hours.

They stepped into the warm Divination classroom, where Professor Yang was waiting for them. She was a small, old Asiatic woman, with long hair that, despite her age, remained black. She wore a red shawl and spoke in a mysterious, mystic voice, except when she was angry: her dark eyes would flash dangerously and her voice would become dry.

"You're late," said a cold voice. "I didn't expect anything else from you, of course."

James and Sirius turned at the sound of the icy, familiar voice: Professor Lestrange stood next to the Divination Master.

Sirius checked his watch.

"Oh my god, James," Sirius said, wearing a fake horrified expression. "We are one minute late. How grave is that."

"Shut up, Black," Lestrange said coldly. "Don't make matters worse."

James wanted to ask him what he was doing here, but Professor Yang answered his question before he had the chance to ask it.

"Professor Lestrange here needed someone to clean the cauldrons," the Divination Master said, her eyes gleaming with delight; she had never liked Sirius and James, who always made fun of Divination. "So I told him about you, Mr Black."

Sirius's face fell; the detentions with Lestrange were the worst because Lestrange always stayed with him to make sure he was doing it right. It was a problem because even if the teachers always told them not to use magic to, for instance, clean something, James and Sirius always used magic, and spent the rest of the time having fun.

"And Mr Potter, you'll stay here," Yang kept on. "I have forty crystal balls here which need cleaning, and no breaking, of course."

"But..." Sirius started.

"There are no buts, Black," Lestrange said, looking absolutely delighted. "Come with me."

Lestrange beckoned to the door and began walking away; Sirius threw James a desperate look before following him out.

"Now, Mr Potter," Yang said with her mysterious voice. "I leave you to it, I have some work to do; I'll be in here," she motioned to the door that led to a room where James had never been.

The Divination Master held out her hand, and James stared at it, not understanding what she wanted.

"Give me your wand, Mr Potter," Yang explained. "I know you were going to use it."

James rolled his eyes; to his mind, it wasn't very difficult to "know" he was going to use it wand, and it had nothing to do with Yang's supposed Inner Eye. He watched helplessly as she took his wand, got out of the classroom and closed the door behind her. He then stared at the forty crystal balls on the shelves, and sighed. They were too high, he had to take the crystal balls down one by one, put them on the table next to him, and only then could he clean them. Muttering to himself, he took the Mrs Shower's All-Purpose Magical Mess-Remover that had kindly been placed near the balls, and began cleaning.

After half an hour of boring cleaning, James was sweating; he had never known crystal balls were so heavy. He looked up and saw that he had cleaned nearly half of them; he sat down and gave a great sigh, thinking that Professor Yang was a sadistic. He then decided that he needed a break, and that he would see how Sirius was doing, down there in the dungeons. He rummaged through the pockets of his robes and found what he was looking for. He took the little mirror and put it on his lap.

"Sirius Black," James said.

James stared at his reflection, which a few seconds later was replaced by his best friend's angry and tired face.

"I can't believe it," Sirius hissed. "He kept the most disgusting chores for me, the bastard. And, of course, I can't use magic, he's over there at his desk watching. I must smell worse than Snivellus."

James laughed at Sirius's comment, even though he sympathized with his best friend in his grief.

"Don't laugh, James," Sirius whispered, but a small smile had appeared on his face. "Anyway, I'm sorry I can't talk to you much, Prongs. If he sees me he'll kill me. How's yours going?"

"It's awful," James sighed.

"It can't be worse than mine."

James jumped slightly when he heard the door open.

"I got to go," James whispered and put the mirror back in his pocket.

"Talking to yourself, are you, Potter?" Yang sneered.

"I'm afraid I was, Professor," James smiled sheepishly.

The Divination Master shook her head in a gesture that clearly said she thought he was mad.

"You'd better go back to your cleaning," Yang motioned to the crystal balls. "Or you won't be done before midnight."

* * *

It was nearly midnight, and Venus, Lily and Anna were in the common room, hidden behind the armchairs, waiting for the Marauders to come. Three hours ago, Sirius and James had come back from their detentions, looking exhausted and disgusted; they had headed straight for the boys' dormitories, and the three girls had stayed in the common room since then, hoping they would come down.

"I don't think they'll come, Venus," Lily said, yawning.

"They will," Venus repeated stubbornly for the hundredth time that night.

And for the hundredth time, Anna and Lily sighed. But suddenly, Venus beckoned them to be quiet.

"I heard something," Venus mouthed.

There had indeed been a noise, like someone tripping over something.

"Blimey, Wormtail," spoke a hushed voice. "Be careful."

The three girls shared an excited smile: they were there!

For a few seconds, there was a silence, and then a voice spoke from nowhere:

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Under the Invisibility Cloak, Sirius had opened the Marauders' Map and whispered the incantation. He was now staring at it, and noticed three points labelled "Anna Ripperton", "Lily Evans" and "Venusta Vance", which were situated in the common room, a few feet away from them. He elbowed James and pointed at them. James frowned and looked around; not seeing anything, he understood they were hidden, probably behind their usual armchairs near the fire.

Sirius, smiling evilly, beckoned towards the armchairs; James shook his head but Peter nodded excitedly, and the two of them began walking towards the armchairs. James was forced to follow them.

"Can you see anything?" Venus whispered.

Lily, who had stood up to see if there was something moving, shook her head, frowning. She then sat back down and the three girls looked at each other wonderingly.

Sirius, now standing in front of the armchairs behind which were the girls, raised his wand, oblivious to James's silent protests beside him.

"_Pigmentum Capilli_!" Sirius murmured three times.

Sirius then beckoned at the others that they'd better get out of the common room. Trying his best not to laugh, Sirius led them to the door, which opened instantly.

"Perfect timing, Moony," Sirius smiled as they stepped out.

Remus, who still looked tired but much better, had gotten out of the hospital wing without Madam Pomfrey knowing, to come and open the door of the common room for them.

"Why are you so happy?" Remus asked.

Sirius and Peter looked indeed delighted; James, however, seemed outraged. Sirius, with great enthusiasm, told Remus about what happened a few minutes before, as they wandered the corridors.

"You did _not_," Remus said, looking shocked.

"Oh, come on, Moony," Sirius laughed. "It was amusing! And I can't wait to see their faces tomorrow."

"They didn't deserve it," Remus shook his head. "Especially Anna, you told me she helped you in Potions."

"Lily didn't deserve it either," James said.

"Oh, I understand," Sirius smirked. "You're angry because I attacked your little _girlfriends_."

"Shut up."

* * *

When she woke up on the next morning, Venus felt like staying in bed: they had double Potions, then Herbology when they would get all dirty, and then, in the afternoon, Defence Against the Dark Arts; it used to be her favourite class, but since the arrival of Professor Wayne, two years ago, she didn't like it much. Daniel Wayne was a young and quite handsome man who seemed to stare at girls more than teach properly. But the last lesson of the day was Muggle Studies, which she liked: she found the subject interesting, the Professor was kind and the pupils, three Ravenclaw, five Hufflepuff, Remus Lupin and herself, could participate and express their opinions, something Venus liked. So the prospect of this lesson was pretty much the only thing that made her want to wake up. That, and a good breakfast. She needed one because she hadn't slept enough, and was still angry and confused about the night before: they had not seen the Marauders, but had heard footsteps noises, a sentence (Venus perfectly remembered it because she had found it original: "I solemnly swear I am up to no good") and something that sounded like a spell said three times, but they hadn't heard well. Then, nothing: Venus supposed they were under an Invisibility Cloak.

Venus sighed as she drew the curtains of her four-poster bed open; she noticed that Lily was already up, sitting on her bed. As soon as they saw each other, they cried: Lily's so beautiful hair, of an unusual, dark shade of red, had turned a grass-like green, and Venus's hair was now light blue.

"Oh my god," Lily whispered, horrified, as she looked at herself in the mirror. "What happened?"

Woken up by her friends' screams, Anna got out of her bed sleepily and goggled at Lily and Venus.

"What the hell...?" Anna gasped.

"Anna!" Lily exclaimed, pointing at her friend's head.

The blonde girl had now bright pink hair, of a bubble-gum like colour; she ran to the mirror, where Venus and Lily still stood, shocked.

"It's _Black_," Venus scowled, touching her hair with disgusted expression on her face. "I'm sure of it."

"Yeah," Lily nodded, screwing up her eyes as she thought. "Last night, it sounded like a spell said three times. Wait...it must have been the Hair Colouring charm. I can't believe they did that!"

"I hate pink," Anna sighed.

"Of course," Lily said rather exasperatedly. "We did this spell in Charms class at the beginning of the school year. It turns someone's hair into the colour they like least; that's why mine is green."

They stared at themselves in disbelief; Anna's and Venus's colours of hair clashed with the colours of their eyes. Lily's hair was now the same colour as her eyes, which was weird and maybe even worse.

"Oh no," Lily clapped her hands to her mouth. "The spell can only be removed by the person who cast it, remember?"

"I'm sure it's Black," Venus said quickly.

"It must be," Lily replied thoughtfully. "But, maybe Potter?"

"James would never do something like that to you," Venus shook her head.

If they weren't under these circumstances, she would have made fun of poor James's crush on Lily, but she just wasn't in the mood.

"How are we going to hide this?" Anna asked in a small voice.

"I don't know...maybe we can put the hoods of our cloaks. But Black will never want to remove it," Lily said in despair. "Things don't look good."

* * *

"I just can't wait to see them," Sirius laughed.

Sirius looked around him to see if anyone else was as happy as him; as he had expected, only Peter shared his amusement. James and Remus were sulking since he had cast the spell on the three girls.

"I wonder what colours their hair will be. D'you know what Lily's least favourite colour is?" Sirius asked James casually.

"Green," James replied through gritted teeth.

"You actually know it!" Sirius goggled at him. "Your case is worse than I thought, Prongs."

Sirius looked earnestly at James, who had blushed slightly but was staring back at him nevertheless, and Peter couldn't suppress a snicker.

"Ooh, I think it's them!" Sirius smiled, pointing at three hooded figures that sat down at the Gryffindor table, as far from anyone as they could. "But it's not funny if they put their hoods," Sirius pouted.

"No, Sirius," James warned. "You've already done enough harm."

"Where did my partner in crime go?" Sirius raised his eyebrows. "You won't become serious like Moony, what would I do then?"

Faking consternation, Sirius stood up and walked away before James or Remus could stop him. He walked to the other end of the table and put his hand on one of the hooded girls' shoulder; it turned out it was Lily, who scowled at him.

"Black, I just can't believe you did that," Lily hissed. "I'm going to tell McGonagall -"

"But you have no proof it was me," Sirius cut in, trying hard to hide the huge grin of his face.

Before they could protest, Sirius removed their hoods very quickly, breaking a plate on purpose so that everyone in the Great Hall would have a look at the three girls. They all turned a deep shade of pink as amused whispers and random laughter ran through the Great Hall.

"I hate you, Black," Venus snarled. "Really, I hate you."

"I'm glad to know it, my dear," Sirius bowed, causing some more sniggers.

The three girls put their hoods hastily, but the harm was done.

* * *

The trio had to endure a whole day of mockeries and pointing; the worst had been the Potion class, when Lestrange had had a good time making fun of them. At the end of the day, Venus didn't know if she had the courage to go to the Muggle Studies class: she'd rather stay in her bed, hidden from the rest of the school. But she had already missed Defence Against the Dark Arts and Herbology, so she couldn't afford to miss another lesson, or she'd spend the rest of the week doing her homework. So she left Lily and Anna in the dormitories; the three of them had spent their day there, after the disaster of the Potions class. Even Lily had wanted to stay and miss class; but neither Lily nor Anna had taken Muggle Studies as an option, seeing that they were born in a Muggle family; instead, Lily had taken Arithmancy and Anna Care of Magical Creatures.

With a heavy heart and a hood on her blue-haired head, Venus made her way towards the Muggle Studies classroom; fortunately, it was not too far from the Gryffindor common room. When she entered, she heard her name being whispered and a Hufflepuff boy pointed at her. She was heading, head held high, towards the bottom of the class, where she usually sat, when she noticed that Remus was beckoning at her to sit down next to him. She frowned: Remus always sat alone in that class, and so did she. Besides, she didn't know if she wanted to sit next to him; he was also a Marauder after all. But she remembered that he hadn't laugh at them, so, after, a fight with herself, she decided to sit down at his table.

"You're feeling better?" Venus asked roughly.

"What?" Remus looked surprised by her question.

"You had the flu yesterday."

"Oh, yes," Remus smiled nervously. "I'm fine. Look, I'm sorry about what happened; I know Sirius overstepped the mark this time."

"That's the least you can say," Venus replied, furious. "He'll see when we'll get revenge, we-"

"_But_," Remus cut in, handing her something, "I have this."

Venus looked down at the object in her hand: it was a wand; Sirius's wand. She peered up at Remus with wide eyes, looking as if she was restraining herself from hugging him.

"Oh, Remus, thank you."

Venus pulled off her hood quickly and whispered: "_Finite Incantatem_!". Then she looked at her hair and sighed of relief when she saw it was back to its usual dark colour.

Venus looked at Remus again, a broad smile on her face for the first time of the day.

"God bless you, Remus Lupin."

Remus blushed slightly and muttered that it was nothing, and Professor Williams entered the classroom; she was always two or three minutes late.

"Good morning, class," she said cheerfully, her young face lit up by a smile.

"Good morning, Professor," they all replied.

Professor Williams looked at Venus discreetly and grinned when she saw her hair was black again; she had witnessed the scene in the morning.

"Now, today we will talk about the Muggles' vision of magic," Williams said. "I will pass you different photos and drawings, of Muggles, obviously, then I will tell you about the stories of wizards the Muggles write, and finally, we will read the thirteenth chapter of your books. You will see that Muggles have a really strange conception of magic; strange to us wizards, of course."

Remus and Venus remained silent as the pupils looked at the pictures; as they were in the last row, they had to wait. Venus was so happy about her hair and grateful to Remus that she had still that look on her face that frightened Remus a little bit.

"Oh, that's funny!" Venus exclaimed once she took a picture a Hufflepuff girl gave her. "Look at this!"

Remus looked over at the drawing, which represented an old woman with long, white hair and a hooked noise. She was handing an old and used broomstick, had a toad in her other hand, and a black cat at her feet.

"Do they really think witches look like that?" Venus exclaimed, bemused.

"Fortunately, they don't," Remus smiled thoughtfully.

For a moment, they looked at the other pictures and drawings, discussing them.

"By the way, I'll keep his wand for Lily's and Anna's hair," Venus said once they had handed the pictures back to the teacher. "I even think I won't give it back to him."

"You'll have to, I'm afraid," Remus said. "I don't think the teachers would agree with that."

"That's unfair," Venus pouted. "Really unfair."

Then she stared out at the window thoughtfully, wondering why a (very) little part of her actually wanted to give Sirius his wand after they would put the spell off Anna and Lily.


	5. Sirius's Mistake

**5**

Mysterious (_Edgar_)

* * *

It was twenty past four when Edgar Bones entered St Mungo's. He had managed to leave his home without waking his wife or his daughter, for which he was most grateful. The less they knew, the better. He'd be back before they got up, anyway. Benjy had told him to go to the third floor; as he made his way up he met a man in the otherwise empty corridors.

"Where are you going? You don't look much ill, now do you?"

Edgar raised his eyebrows. He was not used to being talked to so cheekily and without respect.

"Why would that be any of your business?" Edgar asked silkily.

He took a better look at the man; he was tall, in his forties, wearing a badge that read 'Healer Laurie', but no lime-green Healer robes.

"Because I happen to be the Healer in charge, and you look –"

The man paused to have a better look at Edgar.

"You look exactly like the 'tall, mysterious dark-haired man' of the stupid romance novels. Never met one of those. Was wondering if you were as mysterious as you looked. Simple matter of curiosity. You have no idea how boring it can get at night."

There was a short silence; Edgar looked into the Healer's hard blue eyes.

"I'm very uninteresting, really," Edgar said.

"Oh," the man said sarcastically. "What a disappointment."

"I'm going to see my cousin, actually."

"Really? Where is she?"

"Third floor. Now I've got to go, if you don't mind."

Edgar smiled and quickly walked away, hoping the other man would just let it drop.

"Everybody lies," the man called out.

Edgar stopped in his tracks, but didn't turn around.

"You know what, you're perfectly right," Edgar said.

There was a silence; Edgar thought he had surprised the Healer.

"I don't like it when people say I'm right, it makes me feel like I'm wrong… Just go before I take interest in you again."

Edgar chuckled and, shaking his head, made his way towards the third floor. He had to admit, he probably fit the part of the mysterious dark-haired man perfectly. He'd been told he'd never looked better since he'd turned forty the year before. His hair was slightly silver at the temples and his face bore a few laughing lines, and yet it was true. With his jet black hair and green eyes, he'd always been the odd one out in his family: most of his relatives were typically English-looking. Most of them had red or blonde hair, like his sister Amelia. Also, most of them had not been in Slytherin, whereas he had.

"Hello, Edgar! Glad you could make it so fast."

Benjy had been waiting for him in the corridor. Edgar walked towards him and shook his hand.

"How's Dorcas?"

"Sleeping. She'll get better."

"Ah," Edgar said, having foreseen that possibility. "I can't talk to her, then?"

"No," Benjy said. "But you can talk to Sirius."

Edgar followed Benjy to room 365, where Dorcas was lying on a bed, sleeping, Marlene McKinnon and Sirius Black sitting on either sides of the bed, looking away.

"Black, come with me," Edgar said.

Black looked at him, arrogance and dislike obvious on his face.

"Good morning to you, too," Sirius said.

Marlene scowled at him but Edgar ignored him and turned to Benjy.

"Is there an empty room we can use?" Edgar asked.

"Yes, the room next door is empty."

Edgar nodded and made his way out, expecting Black to follow at once. Behind his back, he heard Black muttering swear words under his breath. Chuckling to himself, Edgar stepped in the empty room. Two seconds later, Black came in.

"Sit down and tell me everything," Edgar said.

He was still standing, and so was Black.

"Why do you always have to order everyone around like you're the big boss?" Black snarled. "As far as I know, it's Dumbledore."

Edgar grinned, but the smile never reached his eyes.

"Dumbledore trusts me," Edgar just said.

Black sighed and bit his lip in annoyance, knowing, as everybody did, that it was true. Albus Dumbledore had seen the good in Edgar when no one else had (especially not his law-abiding sister) and had been a fatherly figure for him who had lost his father barely a few months after he had entered Hogwarts. Dumbledore had trusted him and had enabled Edgar to believe in himself and in love more than in ambitions and try and be a better man. And there he was, an ex-Slytherin, one of the most powerful men of the Order. But lots of people still thought he could join the other side at any moment and strongly ddisapproved of him; many men didn't like him because he could charm women, too. It was true that Edgar still had a few vices and addictions: he smoked a lot, and enjoyed gambling too much for it to be a healthy hobby, and he wouldn't think twice about killing a Death Eater if necessary, but he would do anything for Dumbledore. Without him, he'd probably be an unloved, bitter man. Thanks to him and his advices, Edgar had a wonderful wife, two daughters and a high position at the Ministry. Even though life wasn't always rainbows and butterflies, especially these days, and even though he'd never be a softie like Benjy Fenwick or a model of morals like his sister, Edgar would be eternally grateful.

"Can't imagine why he does," Black muttered, and finally sat down.

"You don't like to do as you're told, do you?"

Black remained silent. His grey eyes were cold as he looked up at him.

"Look, just tell me what happened and I'll be gone in a few minutes. Or do you want me to give you a Gregory's Unctuous Unction to make things easier?"

It was a potion which persuaded the drinker that the giver was his very best friend; Black was the person in the Order he had the most difficulties dealing with, and it didn't sound like a bad idea (slightly illegal, perhaps, but Edgar had never bothered too much about that).

"Nah, I'll behave," Black said. "Because I don't like you doesn't mean we can't work together, right?"

Edgar grinned again. "Glad to know you're learning your lessons, kid."

"Don't push it."

Edgar laughed. "Sorry, couldn't resist. Just so you know, I feel exactly the same as you do."

Black rolled his eyes, feigning to be aggrieved. "I thought you loved me. What a disappointment."

Edgar crossed his arms over his chest to look more intimidating. Black held up his arms in surrender.

"Fine. I'll tell you what happened. Dorcas came to my place at about one o'clock – I couldn't sleep anyway – to tell me that some fellow who worked with her in the Prophet, Harold Smith, had told her that a Death Eater – or someone in Voldemort's circle, at least – had been giving him information for several weeks, and now freaked out and wanted to be protected by us."

"Who's that person?"

"Smith wouldn't tell her," Black replied, shaking his head. "Told her to meet him at his place and then he'd take her to see his informer. Dorcas told me to come with her; she didn't believe him entirely. Said he was ready to go to great lengths to have exclusive information and that sometimes it led him to tell lies to make himself seem interesting. Half of the stuff he published we couldn't check to know if it was true –"

"I know that," Edgar cut in, making an impatient gesture with his hand. "And then?"

"I went to see Smith with Dorcas. We took a Portkey to somewhere in Devon, I think. At least, I thought it looked like Devon. Smith wouldn't tell us where it was exactly. He was really excited. But his mysterious informer wasn't there."

"Was it a trap, do you think?"

Black looked slightly surprised that he was asking him about his opinion.

"Don't think so. Smith looked genuinely surprised. And then Snape and Dolohov suddenly Apparated – since they were only two, I guess they thought there'd only be Smith. They must have had someone spying on his flat."

"You didn't think of checking on that when you were at his place?"

"No," Black admitted. "As I already told you, Dorcas thought he was probably telling us shit anyway. They… they disarmed us straight away and kept threatening us as they tortured Smith to get the informer's name. Quite an unpleasant sight."

Despite his forced light tone, Edgar could see Black had been shaken. He was just a kid, after all - nineteen, only seven years older than Edgar's eldest daughter. At his age, Edgar had been exclusively concerned with flirting with older woman and getting drunk with his friends at the local pub.

"They didn't have much time, so they ended up killing him really soon, too soon to get a name. Actually, Smith did say a name..."

Black's voice broke and he averted his eyes. Edgar tilted his head to the side, studying his face.

"What name?"

"Regulus Black."

Black finally looked at him, his expression unreadable.

"My brother who, as you know, is one of _them_."

The silence streched while Edgar processed the information.

"But Snape said it was impossible because apparently Regulus isn't exactly in Voldemort's good books, or at least hasn't proven himself yet. Probably hasn't killed a sufficient number of Muggles. Ha, even _they_ think he's useless!"

Edgar nodded, choosing to ignore Black's family issues for several reasons. One, he was tired and longed to go back to sleep; two, he was no good at comforting people anyway.

"So it's not him."

"No," Black said. "And then Dorcas somehow managed to get our wands back when they lost attention and then we fought against Dolohov while Snape conjured the Dark Mark."

Black's voice was positively filled with hatred now, and his eyes were flashing much more than when he had been annoyed with Edgar. He knew Black had been at Hogwarts with Snape; Edgar was fortunate enough not to know any Death Eaters personally.

"Dolohov performed the Cruciatus Curse on Dorcas repeatedly. Snape didn't manage to hit me but, unfortunately, I didn't get him either. Then the Aurors came. Mad-Eye was with them and covered up for us."

Obviously, Black had anticipated Edgar's question about what the Aurors knew. Edgar nodded.

"You couldn't do much more, Black. You were only two."

"Yeah, if we had trust Smith…"

Black didn't finish his sentence. Edgar nodded and made his way out. When he reached the doorstep, he turned around haltingly. Black was staring off into space, most likely reminiscing the night's events.

"Go home and get some sleep," Edgar said.

Black looked up at him, surprised by his sudden change of tone.

"Order meeting tonight, you want to be fit for that," Edgar added.

Black nodded and Edgar walked back to Dorcas's room.

"I'm leaving, Benjy," Edgar said.

Benjy nodded. "Alright. How's the family, by the way?"

"Fine, thanks," Edgar smiled.

"I haven't seen the girls in ages," Benjy remarked, walking alongside Edgar in the corridor. "They must have grown up a great deal."

"They did. Olga's in her second year now, time passes by so fast."

Suddenly, Edgar remembered that one of Harold Smith's children - a girl, Edgar remembered - was in Olga's year; she was one of her friends. He tried not to think of his little Olga's face, which so resembled her mother's, if Dumbledore told her that her father was gone. He must be really foolish to fight while he had a family, but he couldn't imagine being inactive.

"Did you recover from the shock of her being sorted in Gryffindor?" Benjy asked, chuckling.

Edgar smirked. "Nobody's perfect. And little Alba will go to Hogwarts next year, maybe she'll be in another House. I'd like her to be in Ravenclaw, I think she'd fit there."

He'd named her daughter after Dumbledore. Natacha and he had expected a boy but had called the girl Alba anyway. His youngest had never forgiven him for it; she thought it was a stupid name.

"And your wife? Is she still working for that model agency?"

"Yes," Edgar replied, grinning proudly.

Natacha, who used to be a model and now worked for an agency in London, was a beautiful Russian woman, tall and blonde, a picture of perfection. He had met her during a business trip in Moscow and they had got married fourteen years ago. He would be eternally grateful there was no Cold War between wizards.

"What about you? Did you find someone?" Edgar asked lightly, clapping Benjy on the back.

Edgar had never known Benjy as anything other than a bachelor; they had first met when the Order was being constituted, two years previously.

Benjy looked away, slightly embarrassed. "You know, now's not the time for that."

"Natacha's got a friend who got divorced two years ago, maybe I could –"

"No, thanks," Benjy said. "I think I'll wait for this war to end."

Edgar looked down at him gravely. He was taller than Benjy by six good inches. It amazed Edgar, how two people who were so different could be friends. Benjy was the optimistic one, gentle, friendly, always calm and a good listener; a woman's best friend. Edgar, on the other hand… well, Edgar was exactly the kind of man that women wanted, against their better judgment. And yet he liked Benjy; who _couldn't_ like him?

"You know, that might take a while."

They both knew that 'a while' was an understatement.

Benjy smiled sadly as he stopped walking. "I know... Did Sirius behave, by the way?"

Edgar laughed; the sound was rough and loud.

"He doesn't like me," Edgar said. "Probably thinks I'm a spy for Voldemort or something, like lots of people do."

Edgar walked away, yawning and hoping he'd find sleep when he'd get home, which was unlikely. He'd probably think about his Olga over there at Hogwarts, and about her friend who was going to receive terrible news.

"Edgar!" Benjy called.

Edgar turned; he had reached the end of the corridor.

"I believe you're a good person," Benjy said.

Edgar flashed him a smile, grateful to see that there were people who, unlike the unpleasant Healer he'd met earlier, still believed in humanity.

* * *

**Couldn't resist putting House, MD in this! And anyone who recognizes an Oscar Wilde quote gets a virtual cookie! Please review, thank you. **


	6. A Strange Valentine's Day

**¤ author's note ¤** With chapter 4, this is my favourite chapter so far. Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

6

A Strange Valentine's Day

It had been one week since James had saved Snape's life, and James and Remus were still not talking to Sirius; Peter, not knowing what to do, spent time with all his friends at the beginning, but ended up hanging only with James and Remus because they were two and because he had begun to believe, by listening to James and Remus, that Sirius was just an horrible, mindless guy who didn't care if somebody got killed if he could have a good laugh. With that said, you might think that Sirius was often found on his own. On his own? Hardly ever: he was almost always surrounded by a bunch of giggling girls. At first, he had made as if he was enjoying himself, but soon he got weary and his face was dark, earnest and he seemed hopelessly bored. There were only a few people that were happy that the Marauders had split up: the great amount of girls that followed Sirius everywhere (Victoria Bell included), and Lily Evans. The red-haired girl was glad because there were no pranks anymore, and James and Sirius were much more quiet, in and out of class. But the rest of the school missed the time when the Marauders were happy, full of live and of ideas to pull pranks and lighten the quotidian life at Hogwarts.

James and Remus, even though they would never show it and did their best to make as if they didn't care at all, were not the same anymore. Even though he didn't want to admit it, James sometimes missed Sirius, because having Remus as a best friend meant spending long hours in the library and not talking about Quidditch. Even Venus, even if she, at first, was happy to see that Sirius, for once, was rejected, was sad about the situation: she clearly saw that, without his best friend, James was sad. The Quidditch trainings were horrible: James wasn't the over-enthusiastic captain he was before, and, when he had to talk to Sirius about the game, he entrusted another player with telling him. Venus wasn't surprised that she felt pity for James, but she was bemused when she felt pity for Sirius, seeing him getting tired of all these mindless girls by his side. Sirius himself found that it no longer amused him to be surrounded by girls and the object of their constant attention; he thought that he might have grown up, at last, and that one-night stands were not his objective anymore. Anyway, he found himself more bored that he had ever been, missing his friends more than anything. He missed their projects of pranks late, in the dark of their dormitories, he missed telling them jokes, he missed trying to teach Peter how to play chess and laughing as it still appeared to be helpless, he missed James's way to wake them up in the morning and his endless speeches about Quidditch, he even missed when Remus quietly told him off when he did his homework in his bed at one o'clock because he had forgotten to do it during the day. He missed everything, even if he was too proud to go and tell them.

When Valentine's day came, none of our favourite Gryffindors were really happy: Anna was sad because Remus had not sent her a Valentine; Remus was angry with himself from being too shy to send Anna a Valentine; James was, once again, frustrated that he could not spend Valentine's day with the girls of his dreams, although this year he had not sent her a Valentine, wanting to know how she would react if he made as if he was not interested in her anymore; Lily was disgruntled because, when she saw that James had not sent her a Valentine, she had been really disappointed, and she did not want to be; Venus was a bit indifferent to the whole thing: she had received twelve Valentines, but she was used to it and planned on spending the day with her friends, as always; and Sirius had, as usual, received a huge amount of Valentines, but he didn't care that much: he would rather have spent the day with his fellow Marauders, but, as he couldn't, he would spend the day with his usual bunch of girls, at the Three Broomsticks.

"Er, hi, Venus," said a hesitant voice behind Venus's back.

The dark-haired girl, who was eating her breakfast with her two disgruntled friends, turned to see a boy smiling at her nervously.

"Oh, Matt, is that it?" asked Venus once she had finished her cup of coffee.

Matt Smith was in Ravenclaw, in his fifth year; Venus knew him a little bit because he hung around with Edward Johnson, who was in her class and the Gryffindor Beater.

"Is that from you?" Venus held out a Valentine.

"Yeah," Matt blushed a little, though he was surprised. "How do you know it's from me?"

"Because I know who the others are from," Venus replied simply, her tone a little weary.

The boys who sent her Valentines were the same for years, even though she had always refused to date them.

"What are you doing today?" Matt asked, his voice full of hope.

Venus thought about what she would answer: spending the day with Lily and Anna would be nice but it would be a change to spend it with a boy, moreover Matt was rather good-looking and he seemed nice. Finally, she was happy Valentine's Day came the same day as the Hogsmeade visit.

"Nothing," Venus replied after a little while.

"Oh," Matt smiled. "Then what about meeting me at the Three Broomsticks?"

"At noon?" she asked in a business-like tone.

"All right," Matt grinned. "I'll see you there, then."

Venus nodded and watched as he happily made his way back towards the Ravenclaws' table. When she turned back, Lily and Anna were looking down at their plates, although it was obvious that they had heard everything.

"I hope you don't mind," Venus said as she helped herself to some sausages.

"Of course not," Lily shrugged. "We'll do some shopping then."

A few seats away, James was looking at the girls, burning to go and tell Lily that he would buy her anything if she went to Hogsmeade with him. But he sighed, knowing that it was just what Lily hated, so he turned back to his friends.

"What's wrong, Remus?" Peter was squeaking.

"Nothing," Remus mumbled, looking down at his empty plate. "What are we going to do in Hogsmeade?"

"The usual stuff," James replied, trying but failing to sound enthusiastic. "Zonko's, Honeydukes, and then the Three Broomsticks. Perhaps this time we'll manage to convince Rosmerta to serve us some Firewhisky; if not then I'm afraid we'll have to help ourselves to it later."

As he said this, James was avoiding to look at Sirius, who sat a few seats away, next to Victoria. A Hogsmeade visit wasn't a true Hogsmeade visit without Sirius.

* * *

_Save me_, Venus thought with despair. _Please, anyone, do anything to make him stop talking._

Once more, she sighed and looked around. Matt and she had been in the Three Broomsticks for one hour now, and it had seemed like centuries to Venus: at the beginning, they had chatted a little bit about banalities, and Venus had started to get bored. But it had been even worse when Matt started talking about soccer. He was Muggle-born and it was his favourite sport, so he spent a long time trying to explain the rules to Venus, but she just didn't see the point in playing a game where you didn't fly on a broom. They had started an argument but Venus had soon let it drop and didn't even bother to listen to her date. _I won't date him ever again_, she said to herself._ I could even go now_. But she didn't know where Anna and Lily were and, at least, here it was warm. As she looked around the filled room, she spotted a large wood door. _The toilets_. A smile appeared on her face: at last.

"Excuse me, I'm going to the loo," she muttered and stood up.

She didn't look behind her back and quickly made her way towards the door, and opened it. She found herself in a short, dark corridor with two chairs at the end. Someone was sitting on one of them but she couldn't see him very well because of the darkness. At her right was the door leading to the women's toilets, and at her left the one to the men's. She resumed walking, and, when she sat on the chair, the man on the other chair looked at her.

"And I wanted to be alone," said a familiar voice.

Venus froze, and then took her head in her hands. _Oh great_, she thought. _Black_.

"Just the person I was looking for," she replied sarcastically.

To her surprise, Sirius didn't answer; when he had spoken, his voice had sounded somehow sad and weary; Venus had never heard him using this kind of tone, especially with her. After one minute of unusual silence, Venus started to feel slightly awkward, sitting there silently with Sirius looking as if he was going to kill himself.

"Er," she finally broke the silence, hesitating. "You ok?"

She didn't know why she had asked; didn't know if she wanted to know the answer, either. She assumed it was an automatic question, even though she didn't remember ever asking Black if he was ok; to her mind, it was a stupid question, because he would reply that he was very well and that she would better leave him alone.

"No."

Venus's eyes widened and she couldn't help but glanced at Sirius, bemused.

"And…why?"

Again, the same feeling. A part of herself was curious to know the answer, but the other part retorted that she didn't care about what Black felt, after all. It was his fault if he had lost his friends, he was such a pain in the neck.

"You didn't see them?"

He finally looked up at her, and she was bewildered at how much they had changed, the lack of happiness obvious because it was so much there before. Before the Marauders split; but she had not looked at him in the eye since then, so she had never noticed, and now it struck her.

"They follow me all the time, and now I hate them. All these girls that just want to sleep with me just to say that they did it, they'll be famous for a day. What kinds of people do that, honestly? Oh, I know what you think," he said before she could reply anything. "You think that I deserve it, it's my fault if they're all after me, and after all I am the one who started it; and let's not forget that I'm so arrogant and show off that I think I can own the world."

His voice was a mix of anger, weariness and slight sneer; she vaguely remembered having said that to him, one day and now she almost felt guilty, but still he had deserved it at the time. He was not looking at her anymore.

"You could think that I use all these girls, but actually they use me. It's too late now that I realized that it wasn't any use sleeping with all these chicks. What did I want? To break a record? All I did was getting bored after having had all of them. Now that I realize that I had been a huge idiot all this time, I don't even have my best friends to talk with, that's why I…"

He suddenly stopped talking, raised his chin, and stared at her as though it was the first time he saw her. She understood that he was suddenly aware that he had said that to her, the very person that he would never have talked to. She didn't know why he was confiding that to her, but the words came so quickly it seemed that he had kept them inside for a long time.

"You have to be really desperate to talk with me," she said softly.

Even if she didn't want to admit it, she had been touched by what he had told her. She actually felt sorry for him, although it was right that he had started it all.

* * *

When Anna pushed the door of Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop open, she spotted Remus, James and Peter; she turned to Lily because she knew her best friend usually disliked being in the same room as James. But Lily needed a new quill so they got in. As Lily started to look for it, Anna looked at the boys and smiled slightly: it was obvious that James and Peter, who both looked plainly bored, had been dragged there by Remus. Lily called her and she glanced away reluctantly. 

"Look who's there," said Peter at the other end of the shop.

James followed his friend's gaze and, except for the brief flash that lit up his hazel eyes, showed no signs that he was happy to see the red-haired girl.

"I've got my quill, we can leave," Remus said, frowning at James's unusual lack of reaction.

James nodded and watched absent-mindely as Remus paid for it; once or twice, he couldn't help but glanced briefly at Lily. Once Remus was done, the three boys made their way out, passing the girls but showing no signs that they had noticed them.

"I can't believe it," Lily whispered, shocked, when the door closed.

"Can't believe what?" said Anna, trying to make as if she was not disappointed at all that Remus had not even looked at her.

"I mean, you saw him… he didn't say anything to me, didn't even look my way."

"And so what? That's what you wanted, isn't it? You always say that you'd be in heaven if he left you alone."

"Yes," Lily said, confused.

She used to think that, but why, now that James ignored her, did she feel so sad?

"Now I guess that you'll leave and tell everybody about what I told you, so I can feel even more miserable," said Sirius, and Venus didn't know if he really thought she would do that. 

"Actually, no. I'm not going to get out of here now, I'd rather stay here than outside."

She thought of Matt, waiting at the table and wondering what she was doing, and she grinned.

"Why are you smiling?" he asked as if she had just committed a horrible crime.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about Matt… do you know who I'm talking about?"

She glanced briefly at him and he nodded; she then stared back at the wall, finding much easier to talk to a brick wall that to Sirius.

"Well I've never been that bored in my life."

"What? It's even more boring that Binn's classes?"

She turned to him and they shared a slight smile. She nodded.

"I don't believe you," he was still grinning. "What did he talk about?"

Venus could see that he was relieved that they had changed the subject, and she was actually happy that she could laugh at Matt a little bit.

"Soccer," she rolled her eyes.

"Never heard about this."

"It's a Muggle sport. Want to go and listen to Matt?"

"No, thanks," he smiled again.

That smile produced a strange sensation in her stomach, and made her blush slightly. He had never smiled at her this way. The more she was angry with herself for blushing, the redder her face got.

"How many dates do you have today?" she started staring at the wall again, trying to control herself.

There was a short silence as Sirius counted in his head.

"Twelve," he eventually said.

"That's not a lot," she said sarcastically. "I would have thought better of you."

"Actually, I refused –" he started counting again, "- to ten girls, they were a bit too young."

That made twenty-two, which was up to Sirius's usual "score". Every year he received dozens of Valentines cards; he was clearly the most popular boy in the school – with James. But most of the girls knew that they had no chance of dating him because he was too fond of Lily.

"Oh, so there's a 'too young'? That reassures me."

"They are first years. I do have limits."

"Really?"

She turned to him and raised her eyebrows sarcastically; suddenly she remembered what he had confided her and thought that she would better try and stop being that sarcastic.

"Sorry. I guess one can't really change."

"I know," he said, his voice dark again.

What Venus didn't know was that Remus had said that, the day after James had saved Snape's life. He had said that he had tried to change a bit Sirius, but obviously it had not worked at all.

"You miss them, don't you?"

It was as though she had read his mind; he turned to her and saw that she had been studying his expression.

"I don't."

"Come on, I know you do."

"I don't," he repeated in a childish way, then he sighed. "I do. Terribly."

"What happened? What can't you make it up?"

The horrible feeling of guilt submerged him one more time, as every day since that full moon night. He looked at the gloomy corridor as though he was expecting to find an answer in the darkness.

"I can't tell you," he replied, still not looking at her.

"All right," she pouted. "But maybe, if I talked to James…?"

This time he turned to her; her face was hardly visible, only her eyes stood out of the shadows.

"You like James a lot, don't you?" he said, his eyes gleaming suddenly.

"What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," he replied, staring back at the corridor.

"That's rubbish, you can't even be friends with a boy, no, you have to hate him or fancy him, is that it? Well I'm sorry but I do like James a lot, just as a friend. Maybe that's impossible for you to see, maybe to you girls just…"

She trailed off as she realized what she was going to say, and was once more surprised when she found that she didn't want to hurt him. It was as if she was someone else. _Come on, Venus. You don't care about hurting him. You never gave a damn about it.  
_  
"Yes?" his tone was slightly aggressive.

"Nothing," she lied.

"You know, I can tell when you're lying; you surely don't lie a lot."

"Not like you, obviously."

She closed her eyes, regretting that she had said that. For once they got on well, he acted like a normal, sensible person and she ruined it all. She expected him to get angry, but he remained calm when he answered.

"Not like me," he whispered. "I am a liar."

And a murderer, said a voice in his head, and this voice sounded a lot like James's.

"You're insulting yourself, that's new," said Venus, her tone a strange mix of amusement, worry and surprise.

"I guess I'm not really myself at the moment."

Venus nodded slowly and thought about the meaning of this sentence. That was when she realized that it was the first time she had a real conversation with Sirius.

"I don't understand why your dates didn't follow you here," said Venus frowning.

"I hexed them, actually," Sirius smiled.

"Good idea," Venus grinned too; although she was a bit revolted by the idea, she thought that these girls were so stupid that they deserved it. "Well I guess I'd better get going or Matt will get mad. I'll be sure to say hello to your girls."

Sirius rolled his eyes, watched as the dark-haired girl made her way out and prepared himself to join the little crowd that was eagerly waiting for him.


	7. Of Brothers And Sisters

7

Of Brothers and Sisters

The black dog followed the stag until he could no longer pretend that he had not seen him. The stag finally stopped by a tree, and the dog sat beside him, his head bowed sheepishly. For a moment, the two of them just stared at the setting sun, then the stag transformed into a black-haired, uncertain-looking boy. James didn't seem to know what he wanted; he just peered at the dog, his hazel eyes friendly again, with a slight bit of weariness: he was tired of it all. This fight had lasted too long and he missed his best friend so much he felt as if a part of him was missing.

James looked into the dog's dark eyes, and then gazed away, his eyes wandering the Forbidden Forest. "You never give up, do you, Padfoot?" he said softly.

Next to him, the dog gave a brief bark of approval. James chuckled slightly and ran a hand through his already messy hair. "Come on, come here."

At once, the dog turned into Sirius, who threw himself on James and hugged him.

"Oh, James, I missed you so much!" Sirius said dramatically.

He pulled back to see James smiling at him. "I missed you too," he said, unable to contain his amusement and happiness.

"I thought you were not going to talk to me again; these were the two worst weeks of my life. But I recognize that I deserved it, I promise not to do anything that stupid again."

"Good," James nodded, standing up. "I was hoping you'd get it eventually."

"Eventually?" said Sirius, following him out of the forest. "I soon got it, but you wouldn't talk to me."

"It was to make you understand that you and Remus could have got into real trouble this time."

"I know," Sirius whispered. "And I'm sorry for Moony, fortunately Dumbledore understood."

The two boys were almost unaware of the frightening noises around them: they spent so much time in the Forbidden Forest (even if it was forbidden to enter it) that they didn't mind anymore.

"You could have been expelled," said James quietly. "What would I have done without you?"

"You know, I hate it when you take this moralizing tone; usually it's Moony who do the sermons."

"But as I am less foolish than you, I can do the sermons too."

A smile appeared on James's face, which was not going to leave him for the day, at least. He had his best friend, his brother, back, and nothing could bring him down for the moment.

"You've changed, Prongs," said Sirius rather unexpectedly.

"I guess I just grew up," James shrugged.

They reached the castle, and quietly made their way towards the common room, James thinking about what Sirius had said. Yes, at last, he had grown up; it was true that since a few months, he was slightly more mature, and had stopped hexing people (except for the Slytherins, but they deserved it) just for fun; and a certain red-head was not for nothing in this change.

Peter's face lit up when he saw that his two best friends arrived together. Remus looked up from his book at his friend's slight squeak, and frowned, not knowing what to think. Peter stood up and Sirius clapped him on the back, smiling broadly, while James watched with a happy expression on his face.

"Moony," Sirius tilted his head to the side, looking down at him.

"Sirius," he said, his tone and expression unreadable.

Suddenly, his face broke into a grin and Sirius smiled of relief; he had been worried about Remus's reaction.

"I missed you guys," Sirius said sincerely as James, Peter and he sat down near Remus. "I know this sounds stupid but it's true."

He looked around; suddenly, the world seemed much more interesting and beautiful. He almost wanted to stand up and hug everyone in the room. Almost.

"So," he said, drowning further in his comfortable armchair. "Now that the Marauders are back, we've got to celebrate that, don't we?"

His three friends stared at him, two with excitation and one with apprehension. The usual twinkle in Sirius's eyes was back, and this meant only one thing: he had a new idea of prank in mind.

"I see they made it up," Lily said in gloomy tones.

The three girls had just entered the common room, which was full of loud chatting and laughter, like it was back when the Marauders ruled the school.

"Oh, come on," Anna protested. "It doesn't make you happy that they're so glad? Their joy is rather infectious, isn't it?"

Lily made a non-commital grunt and pretended to agree.

Iris was sitting near the fire with three friends of hers when she spotted the three girls. She was happy to see Venus, because she had been too busy with all her homework to have a real chat with her sister. _When was the last time I talked to her_? She wondered. _Must have been one week at least_. The third years were often found in the library or locked in the common room, these days. It seemed like they had never had so much homework; Iris had been studying for three hours that Sunday, so that was the other reason why she was glad to see Venus. Next to her, her friend Sarah lift up her nose from a large book and announced that she needed a break. Kathleen and Alice agreed but Iris said that she would rather stay there and talk to her sister, so she watched as her friends left, and then started to listen to the three girls' conversation.

"I think you'd better let it drop, Anna," she said, amused.

"Oh, hi, Iris," Venus smiled. "I had not seen you. Can we?" she motioned to the three free chairs beside her sister.

"Of course," Iris nodded. "So, what's up?"

The three girls sat down and sighed.

"Pretty much nothing, really," Venus said rather darkly.

"Nothing at all," Lily muttered, her green eyes peering towards the other end of the common room.

Iris followed her gaze and saw that she was staring threateningly at the Marauders. _So that is the reason why she's so edgy._

"By the way, I got a letter from Emmeline this morning, and it was addressed to both of us."

Iris handed a letter to Venus; Emmeline was their elder sister. She was three years older than Venus and currently doing the two-year-long training to become an Auror. She sent them a letter once a month to tell them about her work; the three sisters were very close and the two younger ones were always eager to know about the love life of Emmeline, and in what consisted the training.

In her letter, she said that she was fine but very busy, because of the increasing number of Muggles killed. Since the beginning of the year, they had only sent to Azkaban two Death Eaters, and there was a fight almost every day. Emmeline tried not to worry her sisters too much, but it was obvious that the situation got more and more dramatic as time passed and Voldemort gained power.

"I haven't seen you much lately, what have you been up to?" Venus asked once she was done reading, trying to keep her mind on superficial things.

"I was submerged by the horrible thing they call homework," Iris rolled her eyes.

Venus and Anna grinned knowingly but Lily raised her eyebrows, having always been the studious one.

"I don't see what's horrible in that," Lily said dryly, as though personally aggravated by Iris's sentence. "I forgot, but I have to go to a prefects' meeting. I'm going to get Remus."

With that, she stood up and made her way towards the Marauders, leaving the three girls sceptical about the so-called meeting.

"Hello Remus, I think you forgot, actually I had forgotten too, but we have to go to a prefects' meeting, it starts in ten minutes so we'd better hurry up," said Lily all in one breath.

The four boys, who were chatting casually when she had arrived, were now staring back at her, obviously disgruntled, even James (only a little) that she had come and disturbed them during a very important discussion.

"Are you sure, Lily?" Remus frowned. "I don't remember –"

"Just come!" Lily replied firmly, almost dragging the poor boy out of his armchair.

Remus stood up reluctantly and, throwing his friends a last puzzled look, followed Lily out of the common room. As they passed the girls, Lily stuck her tongue out at them.

"I can't believe she did that!" Iris exclaimed. "I mean she can't get that angry because of homework."

"I don't think that's what you said," Venus sighed. "She's been mad because James's ignoring her, even if she doesn't want to admit it. Moreover, I think she's worried for her family, with all those attacks on Muggles."

"Why the hell did she drag Remus out?" James frowned.

"I have no idea," Sirius shrugged.

James shook his head and looked at the sky through the window. The sun was high in the blue sky and the wind blowing slightly, making it a nice weather for Quidditch..._Quidditch_?

"Oh," James suddenly stood up. "Sirius, what time is it?"

Sirius checked his watch nonchalantly, frowning at his friend's sudden alarm.

"Four o'clock, why?" he asked, then understood. "Wait, weren't we supposed to –"

"- have Quidditch practise, yes!" James finished, looking horrified.

Sirius stood up as well and the two of them quickly searched for their team-mates; they only found Venus, who was aghast that the three of them had forgotten, for once, that they had Quidditch practise. As the four other players were nowhere to be found, they assumed they were already at the Quidditch pitch, waiting for them.

"Sorry, Iris," Venus said as they left in a rush. "I'll talk with you another time!"

As they made their way towards the pitch, they passed a group of Slytherins third years. Regulus, Sirius's little brother, called him out.

"Oh, so nice to see you, my dear brother," he sneered.

"I don't have time to talk to you, you bloody prat," Sirius spat.

Since last summer, Sirius lived at the Potter's. He had leaved his house because he had had enough, and avoided his brother the more he could. His parents had always said he was a better son.

"You should come around some time," Regulus smiled evilly. "Father and Mother are really missing you."

James had to prevent Sirius from hitting his so-called brother, and the three of them quickly resumed walking, trying not to hear the Slytherins' sneers behind them.

"Where were you?" Edward Johnson asked crossly.

Venus, James and Sirius had just stepped on the pitch, where four red-wearing players, their brooms ready, were waiting for them.

"We had forgotten," James muttered, angry with himself for missing some precious minutes of Quidditch practise. "Give us five minutes and we'll be able to start."

"I just can't believe we forgot," Venus shook her head as they changed into their Quidditch robes.

"Me neither," James sighed. "I guess we were too happy to have made it up to think about anything else."

They got outside and joined the others; two minutes later, James had told them about his new tactic. As soon as the seven of them flew in the air, James spotted two persons sitting on the stand, and almost fell of his broom as he recognized them: it was Remus and Lily, the two persons that had never attended to a Quidditch training. _I guess people change, after all_, James thought as he flew higher in the sky.

The night was falling when Lily opened the oak doors and stepped outside in the cold winter evening. She shivered slightly and put her cloak more tightly around her; she needed to be alone and liked those lonely walk near the lake, before having dinner. She loved that moment of the day, when the sky was dark blue and stars began to appear. The moon was easily visible, and as she looked at it she thought of Remus, and how she had dragged him angrily out of the common room that afternoon. After that, she had talked a little bit with Remus (of course, there wasn't really a prefects' meeting, it was just an excuse), but really felt down, not knowing exactly why she had overreacted like that. It was not what Iris had said, she didn't care that much, but it was more that she was worried that the Marauders had made it up: there was going to be more and more pranks, and she was anxious that Potter and Black might start to hex people at random again.

She still couldn't believe what Black had done to Snape; she, of course, knew that they loathed each other, but she would never have thought that Black would do such a mindless, cruel thing. It was impossible to her to imagine that Black didn't care whether Snape died or not. Lily didn't want James to die even though he was one of the persons she despised the most. Thinking about James, she had been happily surprised that he had saved Snape's life; maybe he was a good person after all. _Yeah, deep inside_, _maybe_, she smiled slightly as she remembered her conversation with Remus, weeks ago.

The lake was not far away now: she could see the reflections of the stars in the dark water. She sighed at the beautiful sight before her and, after a moment, sat on the edge of the lake, listening to the night while thoughtfully dipping her fingers in the cold water. What she tried not to think about had haunted her mind all day: at breakfast, Dumbledore had announced the death of two Muggle families, killed by Voldemort's Death Eaters. It was the families of one boy in Ravenclaw, and a first-year Hufflepuff. Men, women, children, they had all been hit by the Killing Curse. Lily had been horrified at the news, because she could relate to how the two pupils were feeling. She got more and more frightened as the number of Muggles killed increased dramatically; she feared for her family more than never and felt horribly helpless, staying there at school, safe but doing nothing. She couldn't stand it if something happened to her parents and her sister, Petunia. Thinking of them brought tears to Lily's emerald eyes: the last time she had seen Petunia, at Christmas, they had had an argument, as always. Petunia was jealous of Lily because she was a witch and hated all magical things. What if the last words she could say to her were hateful? _I'll write them a letter tomorrow_, she promised to herself, to make sure they're safe. _But I'm probably worrying for nothing_.

"Are you all right?"

Lily jumped slightly at the sound and turned to see a concerned-looking James Potter. She didn't know if she wanted to see him, didn't know what to think about him.

"Sorry I scared you," he frowned.

She shrugged and quickly wiped her eyes as he sat down next to her. He knew she had been crying, but just made as if he did not.

"What's wrong?"

Lily sighed and wondered if he really cared. She didn't know what to do with him; it seemed like he had given up on her, it was the first time he talked to her for days.

"It's just...I'm afraid for my family, with all those Muggles killed."

"I understand," said James softly. "You know, my dad's out there fighting them, I know what it feels like; but I'm afraid we can't do anything for now."

"I want to do something to help; I'd like to be an Auror."

"Me too," he said, obviously happy to she had chosen the same career as him.

"I guess I'll have to stand you for many more years, then," Lily grinned slightly.

"I assume you'll have to get used to me."

He wanted to ask her why she had attended to the Quidditch practise, but knew that she was certainly not in the mood. He didn't want to embarrass her.

"Oh, I'm used to you, fortunately. Not to the...new you, though."

"The new me?" James raised his eyebrows.

Lily blushed slightly and damned herself for doing that.

"I mean, I had the impression that you were avoiding me," she said, more shyly that she had meant.

"That's what you wanted, isn't it? You've repeated it to me for years, I guess I got it at last."

_Yes, but now..._ Lily shook her head. This discussion was pointless: she suddenly remembered about all the times James had hexed people for no reason, all the arrogant things he had said. _How could I think...? _Lily shook her head again. _He's still an arrogant, bullying toe-rag, keep that in mind, Lily. He only thinks about himself._

"It's dinner time," James said after a silence.

He stood up and hopefully held out his hand for her. He frowned slightly when she glared at him coldly.

"I can stand up by myself, thank you very much."

She got up, took out her wand and muttered "_Lumos_!" The feeble light lit up her pretty face and James watched in near admiration as she put a strand of her dark red hair behind her ear, thinking that definitely, Lily Evans was a complicated person.


	8. Love You All The Same

8

Love You All the Same

On the next day, Lily woke up and drew the curtains of her bed open to find a strange-looking Venus, standing in front of the mirror; she seemed puzzled. Lily frowned, wondering what was wrong about her friend.

"You ok, Venus?"

Venus slowly turned to her best friend, her eyes wide, and shook her head.

"What's wrong?" Lily got up and went to Venus's side.

"It's just," the brunette whispered. "I made this dream..."

She trailed off, as though it was too difficult to say.

"What? You made a nightmare... about Voldemort or something?"

Lily thought that it may be that, knowing that she had already made a nightmare like that once. But, once again, Venus shook her head.

"Even worse," she murmured.

Lily took a deep breath and looked at her friend with concern.

"Tell me," she said softly. "I'm sure you'll feel better if you talk to someone."

"Oh no," Venus shook her head vigorously. "I am not telling anyone, it is too... shameful, really."

Anna woke up as well and sleepily made her way towards them.

"What's going on?" she asked as she saw the dark-haired girl's face.

Venus sighed, turned and put her school robes on, ignoring her friends' intrigued expressions. She still couldn't believe she had dreamt about _him_. _But our dreams don't always show what we want, do they?_ she wondered. _I hope not. Hey, come on, I know what I want, and I certainly don't want him._ She nodded in a determined way and tried to keep her mind off her dream: she had a long school day in prospect, so she'd better concentrate. She was combing her hair when she saw Victoria Bell getting up.

"What happened to your hair?" she asked coldly.

Victoria's dark eyes widened and she ran to the mirror, pushing Venus in the process. The girl clapped her hand to her mouth when she saw that her curly brown hair was flying every where.

"Oh my god," she breathed. "I can't go out like that."

At once, she grabbed a comb and ran it through her hair, trying to fix it a bit, but it kept on doing what it wanted. After two minutes of watching happily Victoria's desperate attempts to look better (they had always hated the girl), the three girls decided to go and have breakfast.

When Sirius woke up, he was faced by reality: James was shaking him, trying to wake him up, but Sirius was still half in his dream.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming," he growled.

"At last," James sighed and stopped shaking his friend.

Sirius sat up on his bed and rubbed his eyes, images of his dream still floating in his mind; he felt like he had swallowed a stone as he realized he had dreamt about _her_.

"Come on, we don't have all life, you know," Remus called out, already full dressed.

Sirius threw his pillow at him irritably. James frowned; even though he knew Sirius wasn't of the morning, it was unusual for him to be in such a bad mood.

"What's wrong, mate?" James asked as they descended the stairs that led to the boys' dormitories. "You look... weird."

Sirius did look strange, not really watching where he was going, lost in thoughts.

"It's just... I made this dream. There was Venusta."

"Oh," James said. "And what is the matter with that?"

"The matter, dear Prongs, is that we were kissing. In a Jacuzzi."

Sirius had lowered his voice, so that he thought only Remus, James and Peter could hear him, but he was wrong.

"What?"

The question was asked by two persons: a surprised James and none other than Venus, who happened to be behind them.

"Don't tell me you had this dream, too?" Venus asked, looking shocked.

The seven of them had stopped walking and were standing in the middle of the common room. Sirius's and Venus's faces were slightly redder than usual, which surprised James even more: never had he seen Sirius Black blush.

"Which dream?" he replied, trying to cover up for himself.

Venus was still staring at Sirius, looking shocked, slightly disgusted and somehow confused. Sirius wore pretty much the same expression.

"O-kay," Lily said slowly. "What is going on? What are you talking about?"

No one answered. Lily sighed and looked at each one of them. Peter seemed clueless as usual; James, Anna and Remus looked intrigued and were gazing at Venus and Sirius. Nobody, except for the two last persons, seemed to know what was going on.

"So," Peter's hesitant voice broke the dead silence. "Are we going down? I'm starving."

_This is awfully embarrassing_, thought Venus as she tried to eat her breakfast as though nothing had happened. In front of her, Anna and Lily had understood that they would better not ask Venus for more information, so they just tried to chat lightly about the coming classes of the day: they unfortunately started with double Potions, then they had Divination (Arithmancy for Lily), and in the afternoon, double Transfiguration and Charms.

At the other end of the Gryffindor table (where the Marauders sat on the express demand of Sirius), a dark-haired boy was stuffing his face as he did his best not to think about his dream and the beautiful brunette, who thankfully sat far away. _The worst_, Sirius thought, _is that I actually enjoyed this dream. No, no. Don't think that. It was horrible, in fact. Yes, really, really dreadful, disgusting, unpleasant, whatever you want. But certainly not enjoyable_. With that thought, Sirius nodded his head vigorously at himself.

"I think I'm going to fall asleep," whispered Anna, trying to cover up a yawn with a cough.

As she got no response, she turned to the right and saw that Venus was staring into space, plainly bored, and so did most of the pupils. Actually, the only ones that seemed to be listening to Professor Yang were Aurelia Combs (she was in fact completely in admiration with the Divination Master) and Remus. But his fellow Marauders knew better: Remus was very gifted in looking as if he was listening intently, while he wasn't listening at all.

"I'm not going to fall asleep," said Venus, not bothering to lower her voice. "I think I'm going to die of boredom."

Everyone froze in their movement; Professor Yang stopped talking in mid-sentence, and Sirius in mid-yawn.

"What did you just say, my dear?" the Divination Master asked with fake politeness, with her dark eyes burning.

"What I said is what everyone is thinking at the moment," Venus replied, raising her voice but speaking calmly nevertheless.

"How dare you say such a thing?" Yang said slowly, not quite believing it.

Venus stood up and smiled gently and defiantly at her teacher. "I don't know why I kept this subject; I'm losing my time here. I don't need extra points for NEWTS, and I've had enough of this rubbish."

She looked around and noticed that most of her classmates were staring at her with surprise and admiration, even some of the Slytherins. The Divination Master seemed ready to explode, but Venus couldn't care less as she put her things in her bag.

"I wish you a good end of lesson," she said to her classmates. "Sleep well!"

A few of them laughed as she bowed mockingly at Yang.

"Goodbye, Professor," she said in the same fake polite tone Yang always used.

She left the classroom without looking back, smiling at the thought of the expression on Yang's face; she was actually relieved that she didn't have Divination anymore, this subject had always been a complete waste of time. She would just have to go to Dumbledore's office and tell him. Sixth and seventh years weren't obliged to have options, they just give them extra points for NEWTS, but as Venus had said, she didn't really need those points; moreover she still had Muggle Studies. As she turned the corner of the Divination's classroom's corridor, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned, and, to her great surprise, saw Remus, James, Anna and Sirius coming towards her.

"Nice exit!" James smiled, his hazel eyes full of admiration. "Worthy of a Marauder!"

"Thanks," she laughed slightly. "Even you two followed?" she said to Anna and Remus, the most studious of the four.

"We've still got one option," Remus shrugged. "I've always hated Divination anyway, this was a good occasion."

"And even you, Black!" Venus kept on, turning to the dark-haired boy.

"I recognize your talents," he said somewhat reluctantly. "But James and I were going to do something along this lines soon, weren't we, Prongs?"

"Sure, Padfoot," James rolled his eyes as they resumed walking. "So what are we going to do now?"

Venus looked at him. "Why not...?" she trailed off, knowing he'd know what she meant.

"Great idea!" James grinned. "It surely isn't booked in the middle of the day."

Remus and Anna shared a cautious look: if it was what they thought it was...

"Perfect day for Quidditch!" Sirius announced happily as he looked at the sky through the window, glad to have something to keep him from thinking about this bloody dream.

Remus and Anna looked at each other again and sighed. It was indeed what they had thought it was...

During more than one hour, Venus, James and Sirius played Quidditch, while Anna and Remus got to talk to each other in private; but sometimes, they were distracted by...

"I scored!" Sirius shouted. "Yet another goal! How much is it now, Prongs? It was my tenth, I believe?"

James didn't answer because he actually was sympathetic with Venus: for some minutes, Venus was Keeper and James and Sirius were Chasers. And, even if she was an excellent Chaser, Venus was terrible at saving goals. Venus scowled at him and flew down towards the ground, getting off her broom and quickly walked away. James sent his friend a reproachful look.

"What?" Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Not my fault if she's a bad loser."

James rolled his eyes. "Sure," he said. "I know someone who's an even worse loser than her."

"Who?" Sirius asked as they got off their brooms. "You?"

"Hey! I am not a bad loser!" James protested. "I was talking about you."

"What? Me?" Sirius exclaimed as they joined Anna and Remus. "Moony, tell me, I'm not a bad loser, am I?"

Remus looked from James, who was nodding at him fervently, to Sirius who was staring at him threateningly.

"Hm... let me think," Remus said as they began walking towards the castle. "Let's say you both are."

Anna's laughter at the look on the two boys' faces was priceless to Remus. It was worth it even if his friends would sulk for the day.

Actually, the two of them took that rather well, because as soon as they entered the Great Hall for lunch, they were talking to him again. Lily was already there, waiting for her friends.

"Where have you been?" she asked. "Edward Johnson came down from Divination at least ten minutes ago."

"Quidditch," the two girls replied as they sat down.

Lily frowned because Anna had said that happily, and Venus gloomily, which was the usually the contrary.

"Why are you so happy?" she asked Anna.

The sandy-haired girl blushed slightly and grinned. "I got to talk with Remus, it was really nice."

"Good," Lily smiled back, then turned to Venus. "And why are you so disgruntled?"

Venus, whose mouth was full of food, muttered something; Lily only caught the words prat and black.

"Sirius and James beat her," Anna whispered.

"Oh, it's just that!"

"Just that?" Venus protested. "You didn't see him, he was boasting and making a huge fuss about it."

"Yeah, but I mean, it's just a game. You had nothing to lose."

The brunette nearly choked and quickly swallowed her mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"I'll never understand you, Lily," she shook her head and patted her friend on the shoulder. "But I love you all the same."

Some people wished they had all the money in the world, others wished they won the Quidditch Cup. Remus Lupin only wished he was a normal human being. He wished he didn't have to worry about the full moon and to keep his secret safe, making up all kinds of excuses. Fortunately, he had his fellow Marauders. But the blonde girl sitting a few feet away was not aware of his secret; he actually genuinely liked her, but he wasn't ready to tell his secret to a girl yet. Moreover, he was sure she would reject him: who would want a werewolf for boyfriend?

"Hey, Moony," James said quietly. "We were talking to you."

"Sorry," he said. "What were you saying?"

"I asked you," Sirius said, still busy eating everything he could, "when you would takmovonana."

Remus smiled and James shook his head. Sirius, his mouth still full of food, shrugged helplessly.

"What he's trying to say is, when will you ask Anna out?"

Remus sighed and said to himself that his friends couldn't understand. Nobody could.

"I'm not going to ask her out," he replied quietly. "And you know well why."

"What, just because of that?" James began. "Anna's really nice, I'm sure she'll understand-"

"James," Remus cut in. "You can't understand."

"That's true," Sirius patted him on the shoulder. "We'll never understand you, Moony, but we love you all the same."

James was wandering the dark park late that night, as Prongs, walking, still walking, as though that would help him. He still had in mind the chat he had had with Lily the day before, on the edge of the lake. Just when he had thought that maybe, there was a chance, maybe they would have a real chat for once, she had ruined it all. This time, he could say she was the one who ruined it, because he was sure he hadn't done anything bad.

He never seemed to be up to Lily's expectations, and tonight he thought that he might never be. It would be better for him to give up on her, to open his eyes to the other girls. But Lily Evans was hard to forget, he knew that for years. She was under his skin and there was nothing he could do about it, even though sometimes he just wished he hated her as much as she hated him, it would be so much easier. As he reached the lake, James transformed into his human self and sat where he had sat the say before, only this time he was not blessed with the sight of a beautiful red-haired girl. He sighed and was suddenly very cold.

"Lily Evans, will you ever be mine?" he whispered, looking at his reflection on the dark water.

He sighed again and allowed a single tear to roll down his cheek.

_If you think that I'm strong  
Then you're wrong  
I've been waiting for so long  
Kept playing the same song  
Now I'll pretend that I'm all right  
And wait for you tonight  
Knowing that you won't come  
'Cause I'm outside and you're home  
Longing for the sight  
Of you, I'm crying my heart out tonight_

A/N: I wrote the poem, so tell me what you think about it please!


	9. Unsuccessful Attempts

9

Unsuccessful Attempts

That evening, the common room was quiet as Sirius and James were in detention. Anna, Venus and Lily were sitting by the fire, Lily and Venus doing their homework, and Anna reading a magazine. Near the window, Remus and Peter were playing chess while waiting for their friends.

"Lily," Venus complained. "We've been working for one hour, I'd like to do something else."

"Do whatever you want," Lily answered. "But you'll still have your essay to finish."

Venus sighed and decided that the History of Magic essay could wait. She turned to Anna and saw that she was reading Witch Weekly. Venus rolled her eyes; to her mind the only magazine that was worth reading was Which Broomstick, but she could still have a look at this.

"Could you give it to me, please?"

Anna looked up at her, surprised. "Sure, just let me finish this."

After one minute, Anna tossed the magazine to Venus, who looked at the cover. There was a picture of a pretty girl with long blonde hair, laughing. The titles of the main articles read: _The 100 best spells for hair and make-up, 10 ways to make that cute guy in Potions notice you_, and a test. Venus flipped through the pages absent-mindedly until she reached the test. She started reading the questions aloud curiously.

"Question one: You think that... a) like will to like, b) opposites attract, c) it depends."

"It depends, definitely," Anna answered.

"I agree," said Venus. "Lils?"

The red-haired girl looked up from her parchment, her friends knowing she had listened.

"Opposites don't attract," she shook her head.

Venus and Anna shared a smile, knowing she was thinking about James.

"Question 2," Venus kept on. "Have you ever dated two guys in the same time? a) Yes, I have, b) No, I'd never do that, c) No, I haven't, but sometimes I wish I could."

"Answer b," they replied as one.

"Good girls," Venus nodded. "Question 3: your best friend tells you that she's kissed your boyfriend and that she's in love with him. What do you do? a) you shout at her, cry your heart out and break your friendship, b) you are too shocked to do anything and sulk for several days, c) you go straight to your boyfriend and ask him about it."

"Probably answer c," Venus said thoughtfully. "Though I know that you guys would never do that to me."

"Same here," Anna grinned.

"Question 4," Venus went on. "Would you rather sleep with: a) your Potions Master, b) your best friend's boyfriend, c) your best enemy?"

"That's horrible," Anna said, disgusted at the idea of sleeping with Lestrange.

"I can't possibly answer," Venus shook her head. "Definitely not Lestrange, of course. Not my best friend's boyfriend, it's really bad. And not my best enemy," she made a face. "I'd never sleep with Black, do you hear me? Never. So I'm not answering."

"Yes, but if you had to chose between Sirius and Lestrange?" Anna asked playfully.

"No comment," Venus answered with a slight smile. "What about you, Lils? Still prefer the giant squid over James?"

"I was angry," Lily shrugged, not looking up from her parchment. "As you said, no comment."

"I think we're going to stop the test here," said Venus, and she started flipping through the pages again. "Hey, wait a minute!" she said excitedly after a little while. "There's an interview of Sean Richardson in your rubbish!"

"This is not rubbish," Anna retorted, scowling at her friend.

"Whatever you say," Venus replied, busy staring at the magazine.

On the right page was a picture representing a man who was smiling and waving, riding a broom. In the background was a Quidditch pitch. The man was young and handsome; he had short, light brown hair and mischievous hazel eyes. It was Sean Richardson, Venus's favourite Quidditch player and crush since she had first saw him play two years ago; he was Chaser and captain of the Appleby Arrows. On the left page of the magazine was an interview of the player. Venus spent several seconds just watching at the photo with stars in her eyes; then she started reading. Lily looked up from her piece of parchment to roll her eyes. Two silent minutes passed until Venus's eyes stopped moving and she slowly looked up.

"Anna," she called, and her friend looked at her. "Gwendolyn Patrick's a singer, right?"

"She's the singer of one of the most famous wizarding bands, yes. Why do you ask?"

Anna was intrigued because she knew that Venus, unlike her, wasn't interesting in muggle or wizarding music, and she just didn't see the connection with Sean Richardson.

"Oh," Venus replied, trying to sound detached. "It's just that she's Sean's girlfriend."

She beckoned needlessly to the magazine. In the bottom of the page was a small photo of a beautiful dark-haired girl, waving with grace and smiling mysteriously. The caption said: "Gwendolyn Patrick, 22, won the Wizarding Award of the Singer of the Year."

Venus snorted. "Damn Gwendolyn Patrick," she said quietly.

"James," Sirius said suddenly. "I need to talk to you about something."

They were making their way back towards the common room after one hour of detention with McGonagall.

"Sure," he replied.

Sirius looked somehow slightly nervous.

"Well, first I want you to know that I'll always been grateful to you and your parents for letting me live with you when I left home. I don't know what I'd have done without you," Sirius stopped and they remained silent for a moment. "But when you were not talking to me, I started looking for an apartment, as I've got money from a dead uncle."

"Oh. And you found one?"

"Yeah," Sirius answered. "Is that...okay with you? I just wanted to tell you before I bought it."

"Sure," James shrugged, although he felt he would miss having his best friend every day during the holidays.

"You're the best mate one could ever have," Sirius smiled.

Venus was still rambling about Gwendolyn Patrick when she spotted Iris entering the common room. Glad to have something else to think about, she beckoned her to sit down next to her. She was on her own as Anna and Lily had gone to the library a few minutes ago.

"So," Venus said. "What's up? Any news about boys?"

"Oh yes!" Iris's face lit up. "There's Sean Carter."

"Sean?" Venus grinned. "Nice name."

"I knew you'd say that, " Iris rolled her eyes, well aware of her sister's crush. "Anyway, he's in his third year as well, but in Ravenclaw. He asked me out on Valentine's Day and we've been together since then. He's really nice, and… I think I like him."

Iris trailed off when she saw that the dark-haired girl was looking at her, smiling. "What?"

"Nothing. You're just growing up, little sister."

To Venus's mind, Iris could become a popular and appreciated girl later on, maybe even a Prefect: she was good in class, pretty, nice and lively. Moreover, as she was mad on Quidditch, and had skills that just needed to be exploited, Venus was sure that, with some training, Iris could take her place of Chaser when she would graduate.

"I remember when you were just a little baby..." Venus started.

"No, you don't," Iris interrupted, shaking her head. "You were barely four."

Venus smiled. "Yes, but I do remember some things."

Suddenly, she was struck by how fast time passed by; it seemed like yesterday when she had got her Hogwarts letter and Iris had begged her to take her in her trunk.

"Promise me one thing," Venus said earnestly. "Never become like...Victoria Bell, for instance. Don't let boys rule you and always keep your independence."

"Yeah, girls' power!" Iris laughed. "I see, and I promise."

"I'm serious," Venus said, though she was smiling.

"No, I am Sirius," said a voice behind them.

Venus rolled her eyes. "Very funny, Black," she sneered without turning.

"How do you know it's me?" Sirius said in a tone of mock admiration. "Never knew you had the Inner Eye."

"I'd recognize your beautiful voice among thousands," Venus said sarcastically.

"I feel honoured," Sirius bowed slightly.

Since their chat on Valentine's Day, which they had never mentioned again, or told anyone about it, they were back to their normal arguing selves.

"You are getting prettier and prettier as time goes by, Iris," Sirius said with his most charming smile, leaning against Venus's armchair.

Iris laughed slightly and shook her head, though she seemed flattered that he had remembered her name.

"What are you doing on Saturday?" Sirius asked suddenly.

Iris seemed genuinely surprised that he was asking her out; Venus looked as if she was going to explode.

"Thanks for the offer, but I've already got a boyfriend. Moreover, I think you're a bit too old for me, you know."

"Oh," he looked rather disappointed. "It's a pity. You don't know what you're losing, darling."

He winked at her and she rolled her eyes, although she was smiling broadly, clearly amused. She suddenly looked at her watch and gasped.

"I must meet with Sean in two minutes. See you later!"

With that, she stormed out of the common room, leaving Sirius and Venus staring after her in an awkward silence.

"Can't believe he did that," Venus was muttering over and over again, shaking her head.

She closed her eyes to calm down, took a deep breath, and when she opened them again, she saw that Sirius had taken Iris's place, facing her.

"What do you think you're doing?" she snarled.

"You bought this armchair or what?" he retorted. "I have the right to sit here."

_That will lead me nowhere_, she said to herself. _Remain calm, that's the key. _

"Will you go out with me?"

She looked up at him, her mouth hanging open in disbelief, sure she had misheard. Sirius seemed horrified by his own question.

"Is that a joke?" she finally let out.

He was silently cursing himself. He had let the question slip without even thinking about it. _As if I wanted to date her_, Sirius said sarcastically to himself.

"Of course," he managed a grin.

Venus, still slightly shocked, frowned. She got up, shaking her head. She then opened her mouth as though to say something, but nothing came out, so she just shook her head again and left towards the library.

"This lesson was complete rubbish," said Sirius as they left their Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom one week later.

"As always," James sighed. "I wish we had a real teacher, this subject could be so interesting."

"I totally agree with you, James," said a girly voice from behind the Marauders.

They turned to see a group of four giggling girls. The only Gryffindor was Victoria Bell. The others, her twin Gloria Bell, Samantha Slater and Monica Walter were in Ravenclaw (they had DADA in common with them). Monica was a dark-haired girl of Italian origin and had a crush on James since first year. Samantha was blonde and wore a lot of make-up; her (unreachable) goal in life seemed to be having Remus Lupin. She had asked him out a few times, and, even if he had always said no, she had not given up. Victoria and Gloria spoke with a slight Spanish accent and were inseparable, even though they always argued about who would have Sirius first. They were part of the bunch of girls that hardly ever left Sirius. The only problem was that the four girls happened to be really stupid.

It was Monica who had spoken; she was now staring at James while batting her long eyelashes. He had dated her once in fourth year but had soon realized that she wasn't worth it.

"Great," James muttered wearily. "What do you want now?"

"How are you, Remus?" Samantha stepped towards them, smiling of a grin that always scared Remus.

"F-fine," he replied, trying to hide behind Sirius.

"Leave them alone, for God's sake," someone said from behind the four girls.

Paige Parker stood there, arms crossed over her chest. She was tall and had long, dark hair and captivating dark blue eyes; she was also Venus's favourite cousin, even though sometimes she could be quite bossy.

"We weren't talking to you," snarled Gloria.

"You were talking to them, but I'm afraid they don't give a damn about you," said a girl beside Paige.

Emma Taylor, Paige's Muggle-born best friend, was looking at them all with an expression of mixed amusement and weariness. She had short blonde hair, dark brown eyes and a lively smile. Behind the two of them stood Lily, Anna and Venus.

"Come on, leave," Paige urged. "We don't want to hear your stupid giggles. What do you say, boys?"

"I say that it is a very good idea," James replied earnestly.

The four girls stood between the two groups, not knowing what to do. After a while, Victoria tried to keep their dignity and said that they had something very important to do. With that, they left, their heads held high.

"Thanks for the help, girls," James said. "Thought they'd never leave."

"It was nothing, really," replied Emma, still laughing at the girls' departure. "How are you, Sirius? We haven't talked for a while."

Now that she thought about it, the last time she had talked to him was just before Valentine's Day, and he was very sad. But she knew that since the Marauders had made it up, he was feeling much better. Still, she missed talking with him.

Behind them, Venus, Lily and Anna were chatting with Paige.

"I don't understand how she does to be friend with him," Venus whispered.

"I don't know," Paige shrugged. "She always says he's not bad at all when you get to know him and he opens his heart to you."

"Does he only have a heart?" Lily said half-sarcastically.

"Actually, maybe he does," Venus replied, thinking of their chat on Valentine's Day.

"We have to leave you here," said Emma suddenly, beckoning towards a corridor leading to the Ravenclaw common room. "See you later!"

They watched as the two girls made their way away from them, and then started climbing the large staircase towards their common room. They walked for several minutes in silence, tactfully leaving Anna and Remus slightly behind. At first, Anna didn't dare to make the first move as she looked at Remus's serious, somewhat tormented face, but when they reached the corridor after which she knew was the final staircase leading to the common room, she took a deep breath and decided that if he wasn't going to do anything, she was going to ask. It had been one month since the day they had given up on Divination, and they had not had much time to talk to each other since then.

"Remus," she started quietly.

He had been staring in front of him, lost in thought. Now he turned somehow reluctantly to her, and she swallowed hard.

"I-I like you a lot," she said, not looking at him. "And I was wondering if some day you'd like to...er, go out with me or something."

He had turned slightly white, even though he already looked pale, and happiness came to his amber eyes to be gone in the second, replaced by something Anna couldn't read.

"I'm sorry, Anna," he said quietly. "But no."

She suddenly felt empty and regretted that she had asked. What had she thought? She bit her bottom lip and walked faster, passing the others who asked her what was wrong, but she was too devastated to answer. She ran as she climbed up the stairs, stormed in the common room and ran to her dormitories, where she threw herself on her bed. She felt ashamed and lost: Lily had told her she thought he liked her, but surely he did not. How was she ever going to look at him in the eye again?

_Today I made two  
Unsuccessful attempts to  
Reach your heart  
I could play forever  
My favourite part  
Being your lover  
If you wanted me to  
And do you only know  
How much pain you've pulled me through  
Just by saying one word: no._

**¤ uthor's note ¤** again, the poem's mine, so tell me what you think. I'm glad you guys liked the previous one (I prefer the previous one). Please don't hate me for Remus and Anna! They'll eventually get together, I promise. A little poll: do you prefer Anna or Venus? My personal favourite is Venus 'cause I think she's more interesting than Anna (no offense Ann!) andI kind of admire her.


	10. Can't Fight The Moonlight

**¤ author's note ¤** this is how you do the flame game (read further in the chapter) which Anna does, if you want to do it. I hope you'll understand.

_Here's how you do FLAME: _

_Exactly as described!  
Try this:_

_Gwendolyn Patrick  
Harry Potter_

_cross out all the letters they have in common and you get:_

_Gwndln ick  
H_

_That is a total of 10 characters._

_Now you write FLAME  
which stands for:  
F - Friend  
L - Lover  
A - Acquaintance  
M - Marriage  
E - Enemy_

_FLAME_

_Now count across like this_

_FLAME  
12345  
6789T T10_

_and cross off the E_

_FLAM_

_now count to ten again, starting where you left off..which would take you back to the "F"..._

_FLAM  
1234  
5678  
9T_

_That leaves you with:_

_FXAM_

_Count 10 again, starting where you left off..._

_(okay to make this line up I put an X in the blank spots..)_

_FXAM  
XX12  
3X45  
6X78  
9XT_

_Then you have  
FXXM_

_And you start where you left off again..._

_FXXM  
XXX1  
2XX3  
4XX5  
6XX7  
8XX9  
T_

_Which leaves you with:_

_M for Marriage!_

10

Can't Fight the Moonlight

James woke up before all of his roomates, just as the sun rose. He quickly dressed up in the dark and prepared himself for the special day that was April, 7th: his birthday. He was turning seventeen that day and he wanted to take advantage of the whole day.

"Wake up!" he shouted at the four sleeping boys.

He heard grunts and protests as he opened the shutters of the window to let the sunshine in. He first went to Remus as he was often the second one up; when he opened the curtains, Remus was sitting on his bed and holding out a hand in front of his eyes as if the sunshine was unbearable.

"I hate you," Remus complained.

James just smiled. He then proceeded in waking Peter, who was lying curled up on his bed, up. After a while the small boy opened his eyes and got up with a promise of a great breakfast. Then James sighed as he looked at his best friend's bed: that was going to be much harder.

"Padfoot?" he tried.

There was no sound.

"Sirius?" he tried again, more loudly.

As he still got no response, he opened the curtains. Sirius was lying, motionless, his head buried in his pillow.

"Sirius! Sirius!" James shouted in his friend's ear.

"Good luck," said Remus from behind.

"Come on, mate. Venus is in the dormitories, gotta dress up."

Sirius straightened up so fast his head nearly hit James's.

"What?" he asked, his tone slightly sleepy, but alarmed nevertheless.

He swept a strand of his hair out of his eyes and looked around. When he only saw Remus and Peter, he turned to James, who was grinning, and sighed.

"Very funny."

"It's the best way to wake you up," James replied, still smiling.

"What time is it anyway?" Sirius sighed again.

"Half past seven," James replied absent-mindely. "Don't you have something to say to me?"

He frowned when he saw that for once, Peter was the only one who happened not to look clueless.

"Oh, no, I don't think so," Sirius replied lightly. "Moony?"

"Apart from telling him he's a mental and torturing person..."

"Happy birthday!" Peter said cheerfully.

"Thanks, Pete," James sighed.

When they entered the Great Hall, James saw three owls waiting for him at the Gryffindor table. The little brown one was his own owl, Artemis; the white one was Remus's owl, Saturn, and the biggest one was his family's owl, Osiris. Next to them was a pile of presents.

"Happy birthday, James!" said Sirius, Remus and Peter as one.

The messy-haired turned to them, smiling and shaking his head. He then quickly turned back to the presents and began to unwrap them excitedly, not even noticing that the owls were gone.

Peter had bought him a large box of Chocolate Frogs, James's favourite sweets, and Sirius everything needed to clean and take care of a broomstick. There was also the latest book about Quidditch, from Anna and Venus. And from Remus-

"_Powers You Never Knew You Had And How To Use Them Now That You've Wised Up_," James read the title aloud.

He looked at the book, then at Remus, frowning slightly.

"Did I wise up?"

"Yes, you did," Sirius replied earnestly.

James shrugged. "Anyway, thanks, guys. Pity I've still got my old broom, though."

"Look at this," Sirius smiled.

He pointed at the last present, which was from James's family, and did look like a broom indeed. James unwrapped it eagerly and gasped.

"A Nimbus 1980! I think I told my parents about it once or twice, but I'd never have thought-"

"You told them about it at least every day of the holidays, actually," Sirius cut in.

James laughed slightly. They took a long and huge breakfast and stopped eating only when they knew they'd had enough for the whole morning, even for the whole day, maybe. They went up to their dormitories to enjoy a nice little rest to digest. But James was soon fed up doing nothing; he stood up and smiled as he looked at the Hogwarts park outside the window. Most of the people weren't up yet.

"I'm glad it's Saturday," he said cheerfully. "Moreover, it's quite warm for an April day, don't you think so?"

He turned to Sirius with a grin on his face. Sirius smiled back and nodded. Both were thinking that it was time they saw what a latest Nimbus was capable of.

"Quidditch practise!" Peter said happily, having got the message for once in his life.

"Oh no," Remus complained. "Not again."

He fell back on his bed, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling.

"I'm not coming," he said.

"Come on, Moony," Sirius started to try and drag him out of his bed. "You can't stay indoors by this beautiful day! Moreover, it's Prongs's birthday, don't you want to be nice to him?"

"Get off," Remus growled.

"Beware, Padfoot, he's starting to get angry," James chuckled.

Soon Remus let go of his sheets which he was holding strongly, and gave up.

"Fine," he sighed. "I'll go, but don't drag me."

He stood up and reluctantly made his way out with his fellow Marauders.

"I knew you could do it," Sirius smiled.

Nearly two hours later, the Marauders got back to the no longer empty common room.

"Thanks for the present," said James when they passed where Anna, Venus and Lily were sitting.

"You're welcome," Venus smiled. "And happy birthday."

James grinned back, although he was slightly disappointed that Lily had not taken part of the present. Not that he had expected her to do that, of course. But she did wish him a happy birthday, which was a good start. He smiled one last time at the three girls, joined the Marauders at the other end of the common room, and started to contemplate his new broom.

"My cousin Val taught me a game when I was at home at Christmas," said Anna. "It's called the flame game."

"How does it work?" asked Lily.

Anna explained the game to her friends and then took a piece of parchment and a quill.

"See, for example."

She wrote down the names James Potter and Lily Evans.

"Hey!" Lily protested. "You could have chosen another name! You're mad or what?"

Anna just smiled and proceeded in crossing the letters, while Lily was still fumbling silently, and Venus looking eagerly at James's new broom. After several seconds, the blonde girl looked up, a broad grin on her face.

"What does it say?" Lily asked warily.

Anna's smile widened even more. "Lovers!"

Venus and Anna laughed at the look of shock on the red-haired girl's face.

"This game's rubbish," she crossed her arms around her chest and looked away.

"It's your fate, Lils," Venus smiled slightly.

For one minute, they remained silent; Anna was scribbling something down. Then she looked up and smiled strangely.

"Venus," she called, obviously restraining herself from laughing.

The dark-haired girl stared at her, frowning. "Yes?"

Anna kept on smiling. "Guess who you're 'lovers' with?"

"Not Matt Smith, I hope?"

Anna shook her head and Venus sighed of relief.

"Edward Johnson? David Jordan? Kevin Matthews? Sean Richardson?" she suggested hopefully.

Anna grinned but kept on saying no.

"What? Professor Wayne?" Venus smiled.

Anna made a face and shook her head again.

"Andrew McNorris? Martin O'Neil? Flavius Podmore?"

The response still being no, Venus screwed up her eyes in concentration.

"Is it someone from my very large family?"

"In a way, yes."

"So he's a pureblood...let's see. Not Pettigrew, please tell me it's not him. No? Good. James? John Lewis? Jack Parker? Bit too old for me, though."

"It's not him. That someone's in the common room at the moment."

"Oh, right," Venus stared to look around them.

There were a group of third years, a bunch of giggling fourth years, the Marauders and two seventh years boys but who were Muggle-born.

"Really, I don't see. What does he look like?"

Anna rolled her eyes, bemused at her friend's blindness. "You hair. Your eyes. Very handsome. Very popular."

Venus's eyes widened and she clapped her hand to her mouth, so that Anna knew she had got it at last.

"No," Venus finally let out. "It can't be... I mean, you know, it's Black! Lily was right after all, this game doesn't work at all."

Anna smiled and even Lily gave a weak smile.

"So, how are you, Mrs Black?" Anna asked playfully, and, unfortunately, rather loudly.

It was also very unfortunate that the Marauders had stopped talking at that very moment.

"Who's the lucky girl?" James smiled as the four of them made their way towards the girls.

"Anna, I'm going to kill you," Venus said through gritted teeth.

"It's her," Lily said.

"I'm not and you should know better, _Mrs Potter_," Venus retorted, insisting on the last two words.

Lily blushed slightly and looked away. James's eyes had widened and he was staring at Lily, wondering what was going on.

"Don't you have something else to do?" Anna snapped.

All heads turned towards her but she was staring into Remus's eyes defiantly. He looked down.

"Oh, so you're nasty to Remus now," Sirius remarked.

"It's just fair," James said conversionally. "Venus's nasty to you, Lily to me, so..."

"I'm nasty to him only because I have a good reason," Anna retorted. "He doesn't seem to know what he wants."

With a last scowl at Remus, she gathered her things and stormed out of the common room. Venus sent Sirius a deathly glare and left as well, Lily following her.

"Women," James sighed as they watched them leave. "So fascinating, but so not understandable."

"Remus?"

He jumped slightly at the sound and looked up at a determined-looking Anna. He was sitting under the Marauders' favourite tree and the night was falling, as stars and the dreadful moon began to appear. A few minutes ago, he had stared at the beautiful sunset, lost in thoughts, feeling lonely and upset. But that was the destiny of a werewolf, being alone. No job, no wife, no children. If only I could go back in time, he always said to himself. If only I had not been bitten, my life would be different today. Anna was one of the many things he'd have to sacrifice.

"I thought you didn't want to talk to me," he said, but his voice wasn't as cold as his sentence.

It had been one week since James's birthday, and Anna had not spoken to him since then. She sighed and sat down next to him.

"Tell me, Remus," she whispered after a moment. "I need to know if you really wanted to say no."

She knew he understood what she was talking about. He looked away, his mind racing to find an excuse, but he was finding it very difficult as Anna was right beside him. Moreover, a part of him really wanted to stay and tell her the truth.

"Look at me," she murmured.

He turned to her and forced himself to look at her in the eye. She couldn't help but got lost in the beauty and the depth of his amber eyes, and his heart broke as he saw the sadness and the confusion in her soft brown ones.

"No, I didn't want to," he sighed.

"Then, why?"

Unconsciously, he looked up at the almost full moon; the Change was two days away.

"I don't care, you know."

He quickly turned his head to her, his eyes widening. She was looking at him the way she had always done.

"It's not your fault," she said gently.

"Anna-" he started, but she beckoned him to be quiet, smiled and kissed him.


	11. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

11

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

"Oh, Lupin's not here today. What a surprise!"

The six Gryffindors looked up to see Severus Snape standing next to the Gryffindor table, Rufus McNair by his side. It had been three days since Anna and Remus's first kiss, so the Marauders and the three girls had been spending more time together, trying not to argue too much, which was sometimes very difficult for four of them; only, this morning in the Great Hall, Remus wasn't there. He was resting in the hospital wing after the tough full moon night.

"Shut your bloody mouth up," Sirius said threateningly. "Or-"

"Or what?" Snape interrupted, sneering.

"Or you'll regret that I saved your life," James finished.

Snape's face turned white with anger. "You didn't save my life," he hissed. "You were only worried that your monster of a friend could get expelled and-"

Sirius stood up so abruptly pumpkin juice was spilt all over the table. "You don't - you can't talk about him this way, you smelly prat! I'd like you to notice that he's got a girlfriend! I'd be surprised if you ever find a woman who'd like to share a bed-"

"Sirius," Anna said softly, but holding his sleeve firmly nevertheless. "He's not worth it, and he's not going to tell anyway."

"How can you say what I'm going to do, you stupid little Mudblood?" Snape said stiffly.

"Don't call her a Mudblood!" Venus said fiercely, standing up as well.

He couldn't call Venus a Mudblood. He didn't see what he could tell her. He was facing them, Anna scowling, still holding Sirius's sleeve, and Sirius and Venus standing still and looking furious. He just scowled one last time at them and made his way towards the Slytherin table. For several minutes, the six of them just ate in silence, except for Sirius and Venus who were still muttering and cursing Snape.

Lily sighed ; these two days spent with the Marauders had taught her at least one thing : she had been horribly wrong. All this time she had thought that the Marauders always provoked Snape first, but she could see that, even if to her mind he didn't really deserve every prank the Marauders had pulled on him, he was a bad person. He might have reasons, but he was foul. But she still thought that answering violently like that was not the solution, even though sometimes it might be hard to resist. Lily only looked up from her plate when she heard an owl dropping a letter in front of her. She had used a school owl to send her parents a letter the day before; she opened it quickly, eager to see if they were all right.

The thought of Remus had filled Anna's mind since the night before, when she had watched him leave towards the Shrieking Shack. She felt really worried and had hardly had any sleep, and now Severus Snape was alluding to his secret in the middle of the Great Hall. She didn't really think he would tell Remus on, but she couldn't help but felt worried. She glanced briefly at her left to see that Sirius and Venus seemed to have calmed down. She was still lost in thoughts when she heard Lily gasp. She looked up and saw that her friend was holding a letter.

"What is it, Lily?"

"My sister's getting married this summer," the red-haired girl replied. "With her boyfriend Vernon Dursley."

"What? The fat and ugly git who nearly freaked out when he accidentally saw my wand back at Christmas?" Venus asked.

"The very same," Lily sighed.

Venus shook her head. "You're so lucky to have such a great brother-in-law," she said sarcastically.

Lily was going to answer when another owl flew by and dropped a letter in front of Anna, who recognized her father's handwriting on it. She sighed, not really knowing if she wanted to open the letter. Her parents had divorced when she was eight years old, and she had lived with her mother since then, visiting her father, who had a new wife, only a few days at Christmas and during the summer holidays.

"You're not opening it?" Sirius frowned.

Venus elbowed him but he didn't seem to notice it. She sighed and elbowed him again.

"Hey! You're hurting me!" he protested, turning towards her.

When he saw the look on her face, he frowned in a clueless way. She rolled her eyes.

"When will you understand-" she started.

"It's ok, Venus," Anna cut in, not wanting to attend to yet another argument.

Venus peered over at her and nodded. Anna sighed again and decided that she'd better open it now because they were done eating. They stood up and as they left, Anna stayed slightly behind as she read the piece of parchment.

As they headed towards their Charms class, Lily tried to explain the last spell they had learnt to Peter, while James and Sirius were arguing about Quidditch teams.

"For the hundredth time, the best team is the Appleby Arrows," Sirius was saying.

"The Caerphilly Catapults," James retorted again and again.

Venus didn't say anything although she wanted to: her favourite team was the Appleby Arrows, but she was finding it very difficult to like them now that she knew that it was Sirius's favourite team as well.

"What about you, Venus?" James asked. "What's your favourite team?"

_The Appleby Arrows, the Appleby Arrows, the Appleby- _

"Er, I don't really have one," she said uncertainly.

_I'm not a faithful supporter. But how dare He likes My team? _

"What?" James said, bemused. "But-"

"Where's Anna?" Venus said to change the subject, turning to see Lily and Peter.

"I don't know," Lily frowned, looking around. "She was following us - I think I'd better go and find her."

"I'll go," Venus said. "I know you'd hate to be late for Charms."

Several minutes later, Venus entered the Charms class. Fortunately, Professor Flitwick had turned his back to the door and had not noticed she was not here. As she sat down next to Lily she told her that Anna was in the hospital wing and talking with Remus. She didn't look well at all but told Venus to go to class and that she would stay there.

"I can't believe it," Anna repeated, shocked.

"I'm sorry, Anna. I don't know what to say."

She sighed and he watched helplessly as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"I mean, he couldn't tell me she was pregnant!" she said bitterly. "No, I have to learn I've got a stepbrother one week after he's born. I don't care anyway, I don't want to see him. I don't want to know him."

Remus remained silent because he knew he couldn't really understand her. His parents were still together so he'd never had to deal with something like this.

"I feel betrayed," Anna whispered. "It's just - I know I should be happy. Yeah, right."

She shook her head, feeling the tears rolling down her cheeks uncontrollably. He closed his eyes; it broke his heart to see her cry.

"And here I am, s-self-pitying w-while y-you're here, a-and..."

She didn't finish her sentence and wiped the tears of her face.

"I don't want to even think that I'll have to go and see them this summer," she sighed. "I hate my stepmother."

"Don't you hate her just because she is your stepmother?" he asked slowly.

She stared at him for a long time and sighed again. "I shouldn't bother you with that, shouldn't have come to you in the first place. I'm skipping classes and you have to rest."

"Oh please. I'm not dying."

She gave him a faint smile. "I shouldn't be here anyway."

She leant over to kiss him on the cheek; when she pulled back he took her hand and squeezed it gently.

"Don't be upset or I'll spend the whole day worrying about you," he grinned slightly.

She smiled back, but it was a rather sad grin. They remained silent for a moment until he let go of her hand.

"I should go," she whispered reluctantly.

He nodded and watched as she left. "Ann," he called. "Try to have a good day."

She turned and smiled sadly. "I'll try."

When Anna entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom a few minutes later, the lesson had just begun.

"Sorry I'm late. I-I got lost," she lied.

She was looking down, knowing she was a very bad liar. She was still feeling bad.

"Oh," Professor Wayne frowned. "Well, sit down."

She sat down next to Lily, looking away so that the red-haired girl wouldn't see she had been crying. Sirius turned to grin at her.

"You're the worst liar I've ever seen," he whispered. "You're lucky Wayne's an idiot."

Anna smiled slightly, grateful that he was trying to cheer her up.

"Sirius, when you're done chatting up, we'll be able to start," the DADA Master said with a fake smile.

Sirius turned back and stared at him defiantly. He had always found strange that he called his pupils by their first names; he might have liked it if it was another teacher, but not with Wayne.

"Sorry I stole your part, _Daniel_," Sirius muttered under his breath.

James laughed. Wayne looked down at them, shook his head and decided he'd better let it drop.

"Today we're going to study werewolves; I know we already did them in your third year but I'm almost sure you've forgotten everything."

"Wish we had," Sirius whispered darkly.

"Except for you, Lily, of course," Wayne smiled at her.

Lily looked as if she was going to be sick, as always; she just tried to grin back. James nearly fell off his chair and scowled at Wayne so hard it looked as if his eyes were going to burn.

"You can still have this for your NEWTs," Wayne kept on, ignoring him.

"But it's more than one year away, _Professor_," Venus spoke up, insisting on the last word.

She was smiling up at him, self-confident, knowing he wouldn't tell her off.

"Certainly," Wayne grinned back somewhat nervously. "Anyway, um...Anna. Tell me everything you remind about werewolves."

Anna swallowed hard as she imagined Remus lying on his hospital bed, thinking that Professor Wayne didn't really know about werewolves.

After a long day of classes and one hour spent doing her homework with Anna in the library, Lily decided to go and visit Remus. On their way to the hospital wing, Anna finally told Lily about her stepbrother (she had been quiet all day), and when they entered the hospital wing, they were still talking about it. However, they trailed off when they saw that James and Peter were already there, their backs turned to the girls. And by their side was a big black dog.

"Padfoot, no!" said Remus, who had seen the two girls.

But it was too late: the dog transformed into none other than Sirius. Lily and Anna were staring at him, their jaws hanging open in disbelief. The four boys had frozen.

"You're...you're an Animagus!" Lily whispered.

The Marauders looked at each other as the girls made their way towards them.

"Do we tell them?" Peter asked.

"Yes, we tell them," Remus replied earnestly.

"Tell us what?" Anna asked.

"Peter and I are Animagi as well," James answered. "I'm a stag and he's a rat."

Lily goggled at him. "You-it's illegal!"

"Lily," Remus said quietly. "They did it for me. To keep me company during the long full moon nights."

The look on Lily's face softened, but she still seemed shocked.

"And you managed to become Animagi without any help?" Anna asked in awe.

"Well, yes," Sirius smiled.

"But, please, don't tell us on," James said.

He was looking at Lily. She glanced briefly at Remus and saw the pleading in his eyes.

"All right," she sighed. "I won't tell anyone. But think of Dumbledore, he trusts you..."

For several minutes, the Maraders half-listened to Lily's long and boring lecture.

As usual, Lily was wandering the park late that night. When she got near the lake, she spotted a silhouette throwing stones in the dark water.

"It's a nice night to throw stones, isn't it?" she said.

James watched as she sat down next to him. The night was silent and he could hear her soft breath, which made him feel somewhat safe.

"So, being an Animagus illegally is yet another bad thing to add to the already long list of my mistakes, Evans?" he asked rather bitterly.

_Oh, so it's Evans again_. She was surprised by the hardness in his eyes.

"No, actually I think it's a wonderful gift you made to Remus, but... I already told you what I thought about it."

"Yeah," he stood up. "Thanks for the lecture, by the way. Just what we needed," he said sarcastically.

He looked down at her, refusing to get lost into her amazing green eyes. He took a deep breath, slowly turned and walked away.

"Potter!" she called out, but he didn't look behind him. "James!"

This time, he stopped walking and turned. "What?"

Although she looked lost and confused, she was still beautiful, the moonlight lighting up slightly her red hair and pale skin.

"I don't know," she replied, her voice barely more than a whisper.

"That's the point! You don't seem to know what you want. I'm not going to wait for you forever."

With that, he left and she watched as he made his way towards the castle. Once he was out of sight, she turned to the lake, picked up a stone and threw it in the water with frustration. She stared at the rings it had produced on the dark water, and wondered why she felt so cold all of a sudden.


	12. Whatever Happened To Me?

12

Whatever Happened To Me?

"Bet you he's going to yell at me."

"One galleon. But you know you'll lose. He's just going to say that it's ok. You know I'm the only one who can make him lose his temper," Sirius said proudly.

It was an old game between the two of them, and their friend never knew about it. They made bets as to whether they could make Remus, who was a very calm person, yell at them.

"We've got a deal," James shook his best friend's hand earnestly, ignoring his last comment.

Peter was staring at them, an eager smile on his face. "When is Remus coming?" he asked.

"Any minute now," James replied excitedly.

"Ssh, I hear him coming!" Sirius said suddenly.

James sat on his bed casually, yet Remus knew there was something going on as soon as he stepped in.

"Hiya, Remus," James smiled.

Remus frowned and looked at him oddly. "What's going on?" he asked warily.

"Oh, nothing, really," James kept on smiling. "I mean, I'm sorry, but I was making a potion and-"

He trailed off as Remus looked at him suspiciously.

"And it sort of burst out or something," James finished quite lamely.

Behind Remus's back, Sirius was barely hiding his triumphant smile. Remus went to his bed and gasped at the sight before him: his usually white, clean sheets and the clothes that used to be neatly piled up were now covered with a dubious orange-yellow liquid. Remus quickly waved his wand, and everything was clean again. He turned back to James, who was not grinning anymore, and actually looked disappointed.

"So you're not going to yell at me?" James asked in a small voice.

"No, I'm not," Remus stared at him oddly once again. "It's ok, it's all clean again now. Try to be more careful next time you want to...prepare a potion."

James scowled at Sirius, who mouthed "I told you so!" and grinned broadly at him.

"No fair," James mumbled.

"Anyway it's dinner time," Remus said. "Are we going down? I'm starving."

"Me too," Peter piped up.

"Let's get going, my friends," Sirius proposed cheerfully. "Go ahead, Prongs and I have something to do."

Remus frowned one last time at them and left, Peter behind him. Sirius, still smiling, held out his hand.

"One galleon, mate."

James grudgingly looked for his money in his bag and tossed the amount to Sirius.

"Thank you," Sirius said, emphasizing the words.

James rolled his eyes as they left their dormitories. "I'll win next time."

He pretended not to hear Sirius's bark-like laughter and tried to think only about the good dinner that was waiting for him.

"Before you go, I have something to tell you."

The pupils, who were writing down their homework, looked up at McGonagall. It was the last class of the morning and they were all hungry.

"Next year, you will follow one person during two weeks in his or her day of work. You'll have to chose between the following jobs: Auror, employee in Fleury and Bott, Healer, employee in Gringott's Bank, and worker in the Ministry of Magic, in different Departments of course."

With a wave of the Transfiguration Master's wand, a sheet of paper appeared in front of each student.

"Here are all the names and professions. There will be two pupils per worker; you have until September to make your choice and tell me. You can go now."

Sirius and James shared an excited glance as the bell rang. They would get to live the day-life of an Auror for two weeks. They already saw themselves, wand in hand, ready to fight a bunch of threatening Death Eaters.

It was mid-May and the first hot day of the year, and the students had been allowed to pick-nick in the park. The Marauders and the three girls chose to sit under the four boys' favourite tree. They were discussing McGonagall's announcement, only five of them really enthusiastic about the idea. James and Sirius wanted to take the training with Alastor Moody, whose nickname was Mad-Eye Moody. He was a famous Auror and was in good terms with James's father.

"I was thinking about Mary Turner, I remember my father saying she was a very good Auror," Venus said. "What do you think, Lily? Do you want to do it with me?"

"Sure," Lily replied. "I can't wait to do it."

They turned to Anna, who was lying on the grass under the sun.

"I'd like to go with William McNorris. He might have a stupid daughter, but he is said to be an excellent Healer," she smiled.

James rolled his eyes at the memory of Stella during the match against Hufflepuff.

"What about you, Wormtail?" asked Sirius.

Peter looked startled at being asked a question. "I don't know," he squeaked. "Maybe in Gringott's Bank."

They all turned to Remus; he pretended not to notice it.

"Well? Moony?" James raised his eyebrows.

Remus sighed. "It's not worth it 'cause I won't find a job anyway. Nobody would want a werewolf."

"Don't say that!" they all protested as one.

Remus smiled sadly. "I know you guys wouldn't care, but people like you are rare, believe me. But...maybe I could work in the Muggle world."

They started eating in silence, and for some minutes, they listened to the sounds of their schoolmates shouting and laughing.

"Sorry I wasted everyone's mood as always," Remus said with a half smile.

"Don't talk rubbish, you've got Black to do that," Venus retorted.

"What?" Sirius exclaimed, looking outraged. "I am ALWAYS in a good mood, unlike you!"

"You have to recognize he's right on that one," Anna said quietly.

Venus scowled at each of them, realizing she was fighting a losing battle. "Fine," she said with dignity. "It's true that you were lucky not to have seen him when he was three years old."

They frowned, wondering what she was talking about. Sirius was screwing up his eyes, trying to remember-

"Oh," he finally said. "That day. But, you know, I was only three-"

"-so was I," Venus interrupted.

"Yes," Sirius said angrily. "But you don't have a family like mine."

"Fortunately, I don't," Venus replied evenly, then she turned to the others. "It was the first and last time I saw the Blacks at the annual feast held at my house, where all the pure-blooded wizards are invited - those who want to come, of course. No Malfoys, for instance. Anyway, so we were three years old and all the children were playing in the garden and this prat here put a bubble-gum in my hair! I had to cut it!" she shook her head and sighed as if the memory still pained her. "My so beautiful hair."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Wasn't a great loss anyway," he muttered under his breath.

"So you've hated him since then?" James asked, amused.

"It was a good reason, wasn't it?" Venus looked at her friends; they were all smiling slightly.

"So tell me," Sirius sat in front of her. "This is why you hate me?"

His face was very close to hers.

"That, and because you pushed me in the water as soon as we arrived at Hogwarts," she replied, her voice not as angry as she had meant it.

"Oh, yeah, I remember," Sirius smiled as if it was one of the most amusing memories he had.

She looked away, clearly affected by his proximity.

"Sirius, get off," she muttered.

"Hey! You heard!" Sirius exclaimed, turning to the others. "She actually called me by my first name!"

They all laughed; Venus couldn't help but joined them. She shook her head and when Sirius stood up, she felt both relieved that he was at a more reasonable distance from her, and disappointed. She frowned; this couldn't be disappointment.

"I have something that's yours," said Sirius teasingly.

She looked up at him; he was handing a golden bracelet, grinning down at her.

"My bracelet!" she exclaimed, standing up at once.

It was a gift from her mother and she was very attached to it. Sirius started to run towards the lake, Venus following him.

"Black! Give it back! BLACK!"

"Come and get it!" he shouted without turning.

"You're such a child!" she cried, panting. "Stop now!"

Unfortunately for him, she was a very good runner; she caught him by the wrist to make him stop. They were both breathless. Venus took his left hand, where the bracelet, but she barely noticed it: she was too busy staring in his eyes. Her cheeks were red and he wondered if it was just because she had been running. He didn't let go of her hand.

"Sirius," she hissed, not really trying to escape from his grip.

"What?" he replied casually as he finally let go of her.

He started to walk back towards the others, as if nothing had happened. Venus sighed and joined them, still holding the bracelet tightly. As she sat down, she tried to convince herself that nothing had happened, yet these feelings were completely new for her and she couldn't just ignore them. _Wait a minute_, she said to herself. _This is Black. Sirius-I-Am-The-King-Of-The-World Black. Yes, but also Sirius-I-Have-The-Most-Wonderful-Eyes-Ever Black_, replied another voice. Venus's eyes widened at her own thoughts. _Whatever happened to me_?

Later that day, Venus was sitting near the lake, staring at the sunset. She was thinking about the afternoon and she had to admit it, about Sirius. She still hated him; she now loathed him even more for what he was making her feel. She just couldn't handle it, so she had spent the whole afternoon away from him, which had been difficult because now that Anna and Remus were dating, most of the time Venus had to stay with the Marauders. She didn't mind hanging around with Remus and James, she actually enjoyed their company a lot. She didn't even mind Peter, but most of the time she hated being around Sirius because he made her...what exactly? He annoyed her, he annoyed her at a point she would have never imagined. When she heard Lily complaining about James, she wanted to say: what about Black? He's a thousand times worse than James.

She could no longer pretend not to mind Sirius's presence. She would talk to Anna about it; of course, she didn't want to make Anna spend time away from her boyfriend if she didn't want to, but she just couldn't bear him. Like fire and ice, like cats and dogs, it was just impossible for them to be nice to each other. At least, it seemed impossible, and she couldn't see what could make that change. _But I don't want it to change, either_, she said to herself. _Do I? It's a bit tiring, but I just can't see myself friends with him. _

Friends? As if Black wanted to be friends with her. He hated her as much as she despised him, and maybe he actually found this little war amusing. She sighed and looked at her reflection in the water. She was sick and tired of thinking about Black, he was not worth it. She was going to stand up and leave when she noticed a big black dog sitting a few feet away. It reminded her strongly of the dog she had at home. She made her way towards it and sat down next to it.

"What are you doing here? Are you lost?" she asked the animal when she saw that it had no collar.

The dog shook its head, and she stared at it open-mouthed, bemused. Its eyes reminded her of someone's. She closed her eyes. _Don't think about him_.

"You almost seem human," she said softly.

She held out her hand to stroke its head but the dog barked and bared its teeth.

"All right," she said coldly. "You have his temper as well, lucky you."

The dog barked again as if to protest and looked at her almost fiercely. She watched as it left with dignity towards the Forbidden forest, wondering if this strange dog was real or if she had just imagined it.

Sirius got out of the Forbidden forest in his human form, still fumbling over his encounter with Venus. If she thought that he had a bad temper, then she had not seen hers! It was just impossible for him to approach her without seeing a sneer on her face. Only at noon did it change a little... but she had avoided him all afternoon. He didn't see why and it started to confuse him. He saw that she was still there, sitting on the other side of the lake; she had not gone away. He sat down and dipped his fingers in the water thoughtfully. She was far away and the night was falling; he wondered if she had seen him. He decided that he didn't care.


	13. Arguments And Farewells

13

Arguments and Farewells

"Come on, you can do it."

Venus took a deep breath and picked up her broom in her locker. She had arrived before anyone else and had already changed into her red Quidditch robes.

"Just concentrate, it's going to be okay," she said aloud to herself.

"If I didn't know you I'd think you're going mad, but I know you're just your usual self."

Venus froze in her movement and closed her eyes. With a great effort, she managed not to snarl back at Sirius. Well, almost...

"Good morning," she said stiffly without turning.

"How long have you been here?" James asked, opening his locker. "I thought we'd be the first to arrive."

"About ten minutes," Venus replied.

She sat down on the bench, her head in her hands; she felt stressed. In about half an hour, she would be riding her broom and she would hear the whistle that started the match. If they lost today, they lost the Quidditch Cup. Venus had never won it yet; Ravenclaw had beaten them the two previous years, which was another reason why she was afraid.

"Hey," she felt a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright. You're a very good player, Venus. We can make it."

She looked up at him and managed to smile. "Thanks, James."

He grinned back at her, nervously. She could tell he was as stressed as her, even though he wanted to look relaxed. Within the next five minutes, the other players arrived and soon came the time for James's speech. They barely listened to him, too busy anticipating and feeling the pressure on their shoulders. They knew their whole house was behind them.

* * *

About one hour later, James asked for spare time. He looked furious. Venus swallowed hard and flew down to join her team-mates, trying hard not to hear the crowd's cheers.

"What are you doing?" James asked very slowly, and then turned to the Keeper. "Mark, you are supposed to stop the Quaffle."

James had a fake grin on his face and a mad glint in his eyes that frightened the whole team. Mark only looked down and gave a faint nod. James then turned to the two Beaters, who were obviously the less nervous as always.

"I expected you to play better," James only said.

Then he peered at each of them, pausing to look into their eyes, and then flew away. The rest of the team stayed on the ground, looking at each other uneasily.

"Play better, play better," Edward Johnson muttered. "He just has to catch the Snitch."

Sirius was about to retort something when Madam Hooch whistled. They all took a deep breath and rode their brooms.

"Ravenclaw leads by 90 to 30," Owen Lane announced in a gloomy voice.

Behind him, McGonagall, with her red and gold scarf, didn't look too happy either. Venus sighed and looked to her left. Maia Brandy gave her the thumbs-up, but Venus knew better. She looked down just like the others. But they just had to win this game; Venus wanted the Quidditch Cup more than anything. She just didn't see why they had scored only three times; the Ravenclaws were very good, but the Gryffindors had a horrible pressure, maybe that was why. She looked to her left again as Maia passed her the Quaffle. Venus flew towards the rings at the other end of the pitch, the wind blowing in her hair. She headed to the right to avoid the Ravenclaw Captain who was coming closer, and then passed the Quaffle to the third Chaser, David Jordan. She prayed with all her heart, closed her eyes, stopping in mid-air, and listened.

"-who scores! Forty points for Gryffindor!"

Venus opened her eyes, gave a huge sigh of relief and smiled. _Just forget that it's the last chance to win the Cup_, she said to herself. _It's just a normal match. Nothing to lose_.

This seemed to work as Gryffindor scored six other goals during the next twenty minutes; unfortunately, Ravenclaw scored twice, which made it 110 to 100 for Ravenclaw. The Gryffindors were regaining confidence and becoming to believe that they could win when everyone held their breath: Jimmy Page, the Ravenclaw Seeker, was following the Snitch. James, obviously cursing himself for not having seen it, was close behind. The Snitch headed towards the ground and the two Seekers flew down very quickly. The crowd gasped when, a few feet away from the floor, the Snitch went up. Page was not quick enough and nearly crashed into the grass, but managed to jump out of his broom before. James, on the other hand, proved his legendary skills and managed to go up, following the tiny ball, oblivious to the silence that had came over the whole crowd and the players and to the few people who had come to see if Page was all right, the other half of the spectators and players watching James in awe. James didn't think twice when he felt he could reach the Snitch: he extended his arm and caught it.

Suddenly, contrasting to the previous, deep silence, the Gryffindor stand erupted in cheers and shouts of victory, while the Ravenclaw supporters held their heads down, disappointed. James sat still on his broom, the Snitch still in his hand and a rather stupid smile on his face, listening to the crowd who enthusiastically cried "Potter! Potter! Potter!"

As if in a daze, he flew down to join his team-mates that were already on their feet and crying out loud with joy like little children. As soon as he got on his feet, an overjoyed Venus hugged him tight.

"If only you knew how much I love you, James Potter," she said, laughing.

She pulled back smiling and Sirius clapped him on the shoulder, nodding.

"Is Jimmy all right?" Maia asked.

"I'm going to go and see if your little crush's fine, don't worry," James smirked.

Maia blushed but no one noticed it, they were too busy celebrating their victory. James turned and made his way towards the Ravenclaw players, who all looked devastated. He felt his heart pounding faster and faster as he listened to the still cheering crowd. He headed towards Jack Bonham, the Captain, and they shook hands. James was so happy he didn't manage to feel sorry for him, though he knew just how it felt like, having lost the Cup to Ravenclaw the year before.

"Is Page all right?"

"Yeah," Jack replied gloomily, looking like it was the end of the world. "He didn't fall from high and Madam Pomfrey said he'd be on his feet by tomorrow."

"Good," James said nodding and turned to leave.

"Hey, Potter!" Jack called.

James turned and suddenly realized that the Snitch was still in his hand. "Yes?"

Jack seemed to make a great effort. "Congratulations."

James flashed him a smile. "Thanks."

* * *

That beautiful late May day, a huge party was held in the Gryffindor common room, and McGonagall, being extremely happy to having finally won the Cup, did not even tell them off. It only lasted when James, the hero of the day, started to say that he was feeling tired. Most of the boys went to the door of his dormitories along with him, congratulating him for the thousandth time. James grinned and thanked them once more, entered the dormitories with Edward and Sirius and closed the door behind him.

"I just can't believe it," James smiled. "We won."

For several minutes, he just remembered the first time he had held the Cup; he had waited for years for that moment. Another one of the best moments had been when Lily had congratulated him and had even asked if she could hold the Cup. Needless to say James had let her.

Sirius had already fallen asleep: James could hear him snoring. He rolled his eyes and threw himself on his bed. Even though he was physically exhausted, he didn't feel like sleeping. For a long while he thought about every minute of this eventful day.

* * *

"I just don't see the point in making a huge fuss about it," Sirius shrugged.

"Yeah, who cares about exams anyway?" James said.

"I do, and if you two shut your bloody mouths up, I could study," a fiery red-head replied angrily.

"But, Lily, you've been working for hours," Anna remarked. "You should get some rest and relax."

"No way," Lily shook her head. "I want to be ready-"

"For the Transfiguration test of tomorrow, yes," Sirius finished, rolling his eyes. "I think you told us once or twice about it."

James sighed. He really didn't worry about exams; it had been nearly one month since they had won the Cup and that was all that mattered for him. Besides, he knew he didn't have to study, he'd get good marks anyway.

"Oh, I remember," Lily said evilly. "You two are so intelligent you don't need to study like normal people. Well, let's see... Potter, what spell conjures a flock of small birds?"

"_Avis_," James replied at once.

"Well, that was an easy one," Lily said haughtily. "And what spell can change an animal into a glass?"

"_Vera Verto_," Sirius answered casually.

"Easy again," Lily grumbled, disappointed. "And why are green and silver the colours of Slytherin?"

James and Sirius looked at each other, frowning.

"But that's not Transfiguration!" Sirius protested.

"I assume that you don't know it," Lily smiled in triumph.

"Who would like to know it anyway?" Sirius muttered under his breath.

"I thought you'd know it, Black," Venus said. "Seeing that your family is so keen on Slytherin and all that stuff."

Sirius scowled at her. "That's the reason why I don't want to know it. I'm not interested in anything they like."

Sirius had said this with so much hatred that everyone kept silence. Venus almost felt guilty...

* * *

On the next day, James left the room where he had practised the three spells McGonagall had asked him to do, which was new in exams like these, with a smile on his face. He had done very well, which was not a surprise because he had always been extremely gifted in Transfiguration. A few sixth years, who had already done the exam, were waiting for their friends in the corridor, including Sirius, Peter, Remus and Lily, who was sulking.

"What's it, Evans?" James asked teasingly. "Gonna get only an A?"

Lily glared at him nastily and James didn't dare to talk to her again. He just hoped she had done well, which he was sure of.

"She didn't manage to make her table disappear," Remus whispered to James.

"Anyway, how did it go?" James asked his friends.

Sirius and Remus answered that they'd be surprised if they didn't get top marks. Peter said that he had tried to remember everything they had told him and had not done that bad, except that the plant he was supposed to turn into a big rat had actually come out as a small mouse.

"Well, it was almost a rat, Pete," James sighed.

At that moment, Anna joined them, looking relieved.

"I was worried, but it went fairly well," she said, smiling.

For five minutes they talked about what they had been asked to do, only Lily didn't take part of the conversation.

"We can go now, Prongs, can't we?" Sirius asked. "I'm starving."

"Oh... I just wanted to know if Venus-"

"As if we cared," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Well, if you want to know, I probably did better than you."

Venus was facing them, arms crossed over her chest. Sirius turned to her, his eyebrows raised, and gave his bark-like laughter.

"Yeah, right. It's impossible."

"Come on, girls," Venus said, scowling at the dark-haired boy. "We're leaving."

Lily stood up and the three girls were going to leave when-

"Excuse me," Sirius said loudly. "We are going this way."

"No, we are," Venus shot back fiercely.

"We are."

"We-"

"Enough!" Anna cried.

The two of them stopped at once and they all turned to her, surprised.

"When will you stop acting like four-year-olds?"

"But, Anna-" Venus started.

"There are no buts," the sandy-haired girl said. "I'm sick and tired of your always arguing."

The other six remained silent, impressed to see her losing her temper for once.

"Well, I'm waiting," Anna said.

"For what?" Sirius dared to ask.

"I'm waiting for you to apologize."

Venus stared at Sirius without blinking. "I'm sorry, Ann, but I'm not going to apologize."

"Me neither," Sirius hissed.

"Fine," Anna sighed. "Do whatever you want, but I'm leaving."

With that, she walked away; Remus looked from Sirius to Venus, opened his mouth as though to say something, then shook his head and followed Anna. The remaining five looked at each other.

"If you had not started it-" Venus and Sirius said at the same time.

"What? You started it, as always!" Venus said, outraged.

"No, you!"

"You!"

"God, they're going at it again," James sighed. "D' you want to go and eat?"

"You!"

"Excuse me, but when I arrived you were-"

"As if you never said that kind of things about me!" Sirius sneered.

Lily seemed to consider James's proposition carefully but ended up agreeing because she didn't feel like listening to Venus and Sirius's argument.

"Yes, but I, at least, have reasons!"

"What, you think you have more reasons than I have?"

The two of them were so busy arguing they didn't even notice their friends leaving.

"Wait a minute," Venus said suddenly, looking around and realizing that they were alone. "They left, just because you-"

"It's as much your fault as mine!"

"Oh, no, I don't think so," Venus snapped and turned to leave.

"Wait, I'm not going to let you have the last word," Sirius followed her.

She rolled her eyes. "Then we'll have to talk till our deaths. What a great prospect; I'm in Heaven."

"You're not funny."

"You're not funny either."

"I am, just ask the girls."

"They're just too stupid they'd laugh at Pettigrew's jokes."

Sirius glanced sideways at her. "Anyway, they're not that stupid, they can tell I'm funny and-"

"That's not what you said on Valentine's Day."

At this point, Sirius, maybe because of the mention of Valentine's Day, nearly missed a step, which caused Venus to laugh and Sirius to swear and be even more furious. They were completely oblivious to the fact that everyone was watching them.

"And so what?"

"Nothing," Venus shrugged. "Absolutely nothing."

"Then it's okay."

"Yeah, right. Excellent."

"Brilliant."

"Perfect."

"Won't you shut up?"

"No, but this is getting tiring."

They entered the Great Hall, still not realizing that everyone was listening to them.

"Ok, you know what? I'm going to be more intelligent and mature than you by stopping talking. I don't care 'losing'. This childish game just makes no sense," Venus announced as she sat down beside Lily.

"Whatever you want, but I win!" Sirius said.

Venus rolled her eyes and the water in her glass mysteriously ended up on Sirius's head. Accidentally, of course.

* * *

"So, here we are," Anna sighed. "The year's over."

"Yes," Venus replied. "A year that ended beautifully. I just hope the Marauders are not going to spoil our ride back home by pulling a prank on us, for example. And by the Marauders, I of course mean Black."

_Of course_. Anna mentally rolled her eyes.

"Speaking of Sirius, do you mind going to their compartment later?" Anna asked cautiously.

Lily and Venus looked at each other.

"All right," Venus sighed. "But later."

She stretched her long legs on the seat facing her. They had, for once, found a compartment that was empty except for the three of them.

"Aw, you want to see your little Remus," Lily teased. "Isn't that cute?"

Anna blushed slightly and shook her head.

Meanwhile, in the boys' compartment, James and Sirius were talking about Quidditch, Peter listening to them and Remus reading a book, in the middle of a bunch of sweets and chocolates.

"You know what," James said suddenly. "Remember the last bet we did, you won. Well, I want to do another one and this time, win."

"Anytime, Prongs," Sirius said absently. "What would it be?"

"I bet you can't be nice to Venus for five minutes," James said, smiling.

"What? You're underestimating my acting talents!"

"Well, this, and give her a kiss-"

Sirius nearly choked on the Chocolate Frog he was eating.

"You must be kidding me!" he said, shocked.

"-on the cheek," James finished.

Sirius sighed of relief. "Oh... well I'm not against two Galleons, what do you say?"

"We have a bet," James shook Sirius's hand solemnly.

About two hours later, the girls entered the Marauders' compartment. Anna immediately sat by the window next to Remus, who was facing Peter. Venus and Lily stood in the doorway, not really sure they wanted to be there. James elbowed Sirius.

"I know, you idiot," Sirius said through gritted teeth, then with a very good imitation of a pleasant tone: "there is place here."

Lily reluctantly sat next to him, facing James, while Venus sat down next to the messy-haired boy.

"Anyone wants to play chess?" James asked, trying not to stare at Lily too intently.

But Venus and Sirius were already taking part of Anna and Remus's conversation. James looked at Lily with his eyebrows raised.

"I can't play wizards' chess," she admitted, hoping he would not make fun of her.

"That's all right, I'll teach you," James said sweetly.

"Oh," Lily looked startled, then decided that she could give him another chance. "Alright, then."

As they played, James looked to his right and saw that Sirius was, indeed, trying to be nice to Venus, who sneered at him nevertheless. Sirius caught his gaze and scowled at him. He still had to kiss her. _Well, let's just get this over with_, Sirius thought. He quickly stood up, placed a kiss on her left cheek, and sat back down, as if nothing had happened.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Venus was stunned.

"It was just a bet," Sirius replied cooly. "Come on, two Galleons, mate."

James reluctantly rummaged through his robes' pockets and gave the money to his friend. When he looked back at Lily and saw the disapproving look on her face, he silently cursed himself and his stupid bets; yet maybe if he managed not to screw it up, he could be nice to her and she would not be mad at him until King Cross. That would be a first.

They had just got out of the train. Sirius suddenly raised his chin to peer at something behind Anna's back and his eyes widened. He looked like a cat that had spotted a mouse.

"Who's this beauty over there?"

They turned and followed his gaze. A few feet away, in the middle of the running crowd, was a rather tall and thin woman in her early forties, but looking young. She had long, dark hair and was stunningly beautiful.

"Mum!" Venus exclaimed.

To Sirius's amazement, she made her way towards the older woman and gave her a hug. Sirius was staring at them, his jaw hanging open in disbelief. Venus motioned them to come over.

"Hello, Lily, Anna," said Venus's mother.

"Hello, Mrs Vance," the two girls replied politely.

"For the thousandth time, call me Vivian! Makes me sound one hundred years old."

She was grinning broadly, obviously unaware of the fact that almost every male around them was staring at her.

"Congratulations for the victory, James," she smiled. "Venus told me all about your exploits in her last letter."

"Yeah, thanks..." For once, James almost looked embarrassed, but flattered nonetheless.

Sirius was wondering how Venus's mother knew James and didn't know him, but it had to be because the Blacks, unfortunately, didn't mix with families like the Potters and the Vances, who were, to Sirius's parents' mind, traitors because they didn't despise Muggles.

"And you must be Remus?" Vivian kept on, beaming at the pale boy, who nodded. "Venus told me you're very kind. It's something that men lack, sometimes."

Remus flushed slightly, a dreamy look on his face; Anna elbowed him slightly. He turned to her and she pretended to appear relaxed, while inside she was a bit jealous, even if she knew it was just Venus's mother.

_She can't be her mother_, Sirius was thinking. _Yet they look alike. Wait, Venusta's not beautiful. She is not_. He looked to Venus and tried to find something horribly wrong on her face, but, to his despair, he didn't find any. _Her mother's got grey eyes and I prefer grey eyes over green-yellow eyes_. He frowned. _Wait, aren't my eyes supposed to be the same colour as hers_? He wouldn't admit he found Venus really pretty, even if, deep inside, he thought she was.

He was almost startled when he came back to reality and saw Vivian Vance raising her eyebrows at him.

"Excuse me, but what's your name? Are you a friend of Venus's?"

"It's Black," Venus muttered before he could answer anything. "And he certainly is not my friend."

"Sirius?" Vivian exclaimed, ignoring her daughter's last comment diplomatically. "God, you changed! The last time I saw you, you were just a little child. Venus had not told me you had become so handsome!"

Venus muttered something under her breath that no one caught nor wanted to understand. To everyone's surprise, a slight blush suffused on Sirius's cheeks.

"Thank you, _Vivian_," he grinned slightly.

"I think it's time to go, isn't it?" Venus said rather haughtily.

"Of course, dear," her mother replied. "I'll go and look for Iris while you say good-bye to your friends, okay?"

With a graceful wave, Vivian Vance disappeared into the crowd.

"I'll see you soon," Venus promised as she hugged Anna and then Lily. "Keep in touch, and enjoy the wedding."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I am sure it will be really exciting."

Venus gave Remus and James a hug and decided not to ignore Peter completely, so she shook his hand. Then she faced Sirius, took a deep breath and held out her hand. Sirius looked down at it for a while before shaking it slightly longer than necessary.

"Have a good holiday," he said.

She didn't know if he was being sarcastic or not. She looked up and met his inquiring gaze.

"Yeah, right," she said, slightly embarrassed for some reason. "You too."

"As soon as I don't see you," he replied, but he was smiling.

Venus looked away and spotted her mother and sister waving at her. She looked one last time at the group and left, smiling slightly. Within the next five minutes, the families of Peter, Remus and Anna arrived, so that only left Lily, James and Sirius. The two boys were talking about their holidays plans when Lily finally saw her parents making their way towards her. She was slightly disappointed that Petunia had not come; she had hoped that their relationship could get better this summer, but obviously it was rather hopeless.

"Goodbye, Lily," James said quietly.

She turned to him, and, after a quick fight with herself, stood up on tip-toe to kiss him on the cheek.

"Have a good summer, James," she smiled. "Thanks for teaching me chess. Bye, Sirius."

James, standing still in slight shock, saw her waving at him gracefully as she joined her family. He touched his cheek where Lily had kissed him, a grin on his face, and watched as the red-haired girl left the station, looking away only when she was out of sight.


	14. And We Meet Again

**¤ uthor's note ¤ **This chapter is not as good as I had wanted it to be because I've forgotten a lot of things I wanted to put in it. Also, it's not well structured (watch out, there's a Sirius's POV coming out of nowhere), sorry about that.

* * *

14

And We Meet Again

"Em! Hurry up, for God's sake!"

Emmeline froze in her movement, sighed and turned to her sister.

"You weren't forced to go, you know," Venus raised her eyebrows. "I told you I was old enough to go there alone with Iris-"

"We've already had this discussion," Emmeline replied wearily. "Besides, I'm ready, no need to yell at me."

Venus smiled and left the room almost running. Emmeline heard her calling their younger sister. She rolled her eyes, took a last look at her bedroom and prepared herself for a Quidditch-full day.

* * *

"The match has not started yet and you're already sulking," James's father remarked, smiling slightly.

"We'll see who'll be sulking after the match," James muttered.

"Yeah, that will be you," Sirius said childishly.

"I don't think so," James muttered under his breath.

"Oh, no," said a dismayed voice. "Tell me it's not true."

The three men turned to see a very pretty girl with dark, wavy hair with red highlights in it. She was wearing a short dress in the colours of the Appleby Arrows.

"Venus?" James said after a while, astonished, having not recognized her at once.

Venus was staring at Sirius, and Iris and Emmeline, who were right behind her, could feel the tension. They were ready to hear her sister sneer at Sirius, but nothing came.

"Hello James, Mr Potter," she just said politely, ignoring Sirius pointedly.

"It's nice to see you three," Mr Potter replied, grinning.

"You didn't tell me you were coming to the match! And I thought you didn't have any favourite team?" James said, raising his eyebrows and eyeing the arrow on her dress with disapproval.

"Don't you understand she couldn't say she liked the Arrows seeing that I had said I liked them," Sirius said slowly.

"For once you got it, Black," Venus said lightly.

"I'm glad I did," Sirius replied sarcastically.

"Let's sit down," Emmeline cut in before Venus could reply anything, pushing her sisters slightly towards their sits.

"You did something to your hair, didn't you?" Sirius said, not looking at her and pretending to peer at the players that were beginning to rise up in the air.

Venus frowned, having not seen that coming. "Yes," she replied, surprised. "I went to a Muggle hairdresser last month while I stayed at Lily's house."

"Oh," Sirius said, still not looking at her. "Then I'll have to show that to my beloved family to prove them Muggles are actually very good at something."

Venus raised her eyebrows, staring at him, completely taken aback by this strange compliment. She shook her head and realized that Iris was calling her.

"You look like you've just seen a ghost," her little sister said.

"Almost," Venus shook her head.

"Anyway, I don't know what you were doing with Sirius," Iris replied maliciously. "But you've missed the beginning of the match."

Iris watched, a smile on her face, as Venus and Sirius pretended to be very interested in the match all of a sudden, cursing themselves silently, their cheeks slightly redder than usual.

* * *

The Arrows were leading by 110 to 90 and he was quite happy about it, though the tension between the two teams was almost palpable. Next to him, James was sulking, but determined that his team was going to win.

"Me too," Venus said.

Sirius turned his head to her and looked at her cautiously.

"Would you be so kind as to -" he started.

"Don't even dream about it, Black," she snarled. "If you want a drink, you'll have to fetch it yourself."

"All right," he grumbled, standing up as she did so.

Together they went to the refreshment bar, each of them pretending not to be with the other, yet somehow secretly enjoying it. Venus was startled when she recognized the man that was standing in front of them in the line. Even from behind, she could recognize him... When the young man turned around after he had paid for his drink, there was no doubt about it: it was Sean Richardson, her favourite player, who did not play the match because he had a broken wrist.

"What can I get you?"

"A Butterbeer, please," Venus said, trying to remain calm.

"Let me pay for this," Richardson smiled.

He had paid before she could protest.

"Well, thank you," she grinned uncertainly, flushing slightly.

"You're welcome," Sean flashed her another smile. "My pleasure, really."

Sirius rolled his eyes and muttered something about his Butterbeer not being paid. Venus found that Richardson looked younger and even more handsome than in the photos. He had captivating, twinkling hazel eyes.

"You've got a nice dress," he remarked with a smile.

"Thanks," she replied, still not quite believing that she was talking with him. "I suppose you're really disappointed not to play the most important match of the season."

"Yes, of course," Sean sighed. "But so far they aren't doing bad, so it's okay."

People were starting to make their way back to their seats; the game would be starting again any minute now.

"It was really great meeting you," Venus said quickly. "I must say I-"

"We're going to be late, it's going to start again," Sirius interrupted.

The other two heard the shouts of the supporters and nodded. Venus did not have time to say goodbye to Sean as Sirius dragged her inside the stadium.

"What are you doing, you idiot?" she said through gritted teeth, trying to escape from his grip. "Everybody's watching us. Let go of me."

Sirius sighed and eventually let go of her as they had found back their seats. They sat down just as the Quaffle was released.

"Just on time," Sirius said. "Thanks to my perfect timing."

Venus rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I had forgotten to thank you. How ungrateful of me."

"What happened again?" Iris asked, sighing.

"We met Sean Richardson!" Venus said in an excited tone, then gloomily. "He was really charming, but Black dragged me here before I could-"

"It was necessary," Sirius said earnestly, shaking his head.

"Necessary for who?" Venus demanded fiercely.

Sirius did not answer.

"Lily! One of your freaky friends on the phone!"

Lily stopped writing, dropped her diary on her bed and left her bedroom, running downstairs to pick up the phone.

"Thanks, Petunia," Lily sighed as her sister left with a disapproving glare. "Hello?"

"Lily?"

"Hi, Venus," she smiled. "How are you?"

"Oh, well… fine, I guess."

There was a silence at the other end of the line. Lily frowned, wondering what was bothering her friend. The last time she had talked to her was two weeks before, and Venus had seemed excited by the coming of an important Quidditch match… then maybe that was it?

"Did you team lose?" she asked.

"Oh, well, no, they won, actually," Venus gave a rather gloomy laughter. "That's not the point."

"Then what is the point?"

"I kind of feel stupid now, calling you for that," Venus laughed again. "It's nothing, really. Nothing that I can say on the phone, since I'm in a phone box and there are two Muggles waiting outside…"

"I see," Lily said, although she didn't see at all.

"Excuse me, I didn't ask how you were doing. How's Vernon's family? As awful as him?"

Lily saw Petunia's head sneaking out in the doorframe. She looked away almost guiltily, then frowned. She was sure Vernon's family didn't bother not telling bad things about her.

"I've got to leave you, sorry. I'll send you a letter and you'd better tell me what's bothering you!" Lily said, hanging up the phone with a slight smile.

_It's raining. It's the bloody last week of August, and it's raining. If it wasn't we could go outside and have fun, but we've been stuck in here since Sunday and we are bored. Really, really bored. _

_"Padfoot! I've got some good news!" _

_That's James shouting. Soon he's going to rush in my bedroom without knocking (Prongs never learnt what privacy was), jump around the room like a little child with a stupid smile on his face, talking about something that has to deal with Evans... any second now - _

_"Guess what I just received?" _

_Here he is, pacing the room, excitement and joy on his face like a little child in front of his Christmas present. And he's supposed to be seventeen... Oh, I know him so well... and know how to annoy him, too. _

_"Let me think," I answer calmly. "An invitation to your wedding with Lily?" _

_He stops jumping around and wipes the smile off his face. "Really funny, Padfoot. No, I received a letter from Venus." _

_I know he's watching me. Show no reaction whatsoever. I do not care, do I? _

_"She, Anna and Lily are going to Diagon Alley in two days and she kindly invites us to join them." _

_"Us?" I say, raising my eyebrows. _

_I am truly astonished that Miss Venusta Vance would want me to join her to go shopping. That is just not right. _

_"Er, well... no, she didn't say "us", actually. But I'm sure it's ok if you come. I'm not going if you aren't, anyway." _

_Loyal Prongs... I have a dilemma: should I make James happy by going with the girls so that he can spend time with Lily, all the while having to stand Venusta? Or should I just say I want to go with Remus and Peter as usual? _

_"All right, tell her we'll go... if she's fine with it, which I doubt." _

_"I'm sure she won't mind," James says, looking at me strangely. _

_"You're mad or what? Earth to Prongs, she hates me!" _

_James smiles and moves to stand by the window, his back turned to me. "If you want to know what I think about it, I think you're in denial, Sirius." _

_Did I hear right? _

_"You heard right," James laughs. _

_Wait, I'm sure I didn't say that out loud. Spooky how he can read my mind sometimes. But even spookier is what Prongs just said!! Me, in denial? _

_"I am not in denial," I say, laughing. "You're mental." _

_"You remember, at the beginning of the fifth year, I thought I hated Lily, but in truth-" _

_"Shut up," I cut in. "I don't need to hear more of your rubbish." _

_"That's not rubbish, Padfoot," James replies, obviously amused. "You two are in denial, you're just too stubborn and too proud to admit it." _

_"You're mad, it's official." _

_But James shakes his head. "You'll see. One day you'll thank me for talking sense into you. Anyway, Mum said dinner would be ready any minute now." _

_With that, he leaves and I stand up, my mind suddenly and strangely blank. I go to the window and see that it's still raining. Damn rain. Damn Venus. _

_

* * *

_

"Venus, I think you forgot to tell me something," said Lily, wincing.

The three girls had just met the Marauders in the middle of Diagon Alley and it looked like it had not been at random. But Lily had definitely not been told about this. She didn't know that they were going to meet with the Marauders to go shopping for the new school year.

"Oh, yes," said Venus. "I'm sorry, but Anna really wanted to be both with Remus and with us, and I thought that it would be nice to go to the Quidditch shop with James-"

She trailed off and stared at the messy-haired boy in front of her.

"By the way, you didn't tell me there wouldn't be only Remus and you," she said reproachfully.

"I know," James smiled slightly. "I thought you wouldn't have accepted."

_And you were right_, Venus said to herself, shaking her head. Now she was going to be forced to spend the whole afternoon with Black. She loathed him even more now because she had spent the whole summer thinking about him and hating herself for that. That was what she was going to tell Lily on the phone a few weeks before but she had not had the heart to do so. She had thought that it would pass by, but obviously she had been wrong.

"We should get going," said Remus to break the silence. "I thought that we could buy the new books first."

"Yeah, let's start with the best," said Sirius, rolling his eyes.

"Black," she called out, without the sneer she usually used to utter his name.

Sirius turned to her almost warily. He wondered whether he was going to snarl at her or not, but decided against it. _Wait, where has Sirius Black gone? Where's the fun if I don't? _Sirius said to himself at once. _Well, maybe James was right after all…_ He shook his head.

"What?" he said, less pleasantly that he had meant.

"You know, after the match last month... when we were at James's..." she said, embarrassed. "I must have had too much Firewhiskey because I don't remember everything."

He stared at her with his eyebrows raised as she stopped speaking, looking down. He didn't know where she was getting at. She had been acting odd all the afternoon; they did not even had an argument yet. It seemed like she did not want to have to deal with him at all. And now that it was the end of the day, that he was admiring the new broomsticks one last time before leaving, she was coming to him.

"But James told me... he alluded to... you and me," she winced as though the idea was unbearable.

A small smile appeared on Sirius's face. A discreet smirk, but Venus did notice it. Sirius shook his head and wondered what James was up to because absolutely nothing had happened between them. _Thank God_, Sirius added to himself.

"What do you mean?" he asked, his smile obvious now. "I don't understand."

His expression was innocent but his eyes were twinkling maliciously.

"Yeah, right," she rolled her eyes. "I'll assume that nothing happened, then. Which I'm glad of," she added quickly.

Really, she had been stupid to ask Sirius. If there was something that she really hated, it was being embarrassed in front of Black. She wondered why James had said that to her. Boys were really weird sometimes... Just then, James Apparated in front of them.

"You could just have used the door," Sirius remarked, rolling his eyes.

Venus was relieved that James was here, even if she was slightly angry at him. It still saved her from another awkward conversation with Sirius.

"Let's go," James grumbled. "Miss Evans is waiting outside and she cannot bear to wait more."

Venus frowned at James's unusual tone and decided that James was indeed a strange person.

* * *

"I don't get what you see in Quidditch," Lily said. "I think it's a stupid game. I've never understood hat was the point in throwing a ball in a big ring and all that."

"And what do you make of the feelings?" James replied angrily. "The sportsmanship, the solidarity in the team, victory..."

"That's it," Lily sneered. "You're obsessed with victory."

They had been arguing about Quidditch for over five minutes, since they had got out of the shop. Anna and Remus had disappeared just after the argument had started. Venus, James, Lily and Sirius were now walking quite unhappily through Diagon Alley, and before they knew it they were out in the Muggle world again.

"Because you're not?" James laughed darkly. "You're always annoyed to death when you don't get top marks."

"What you've got to understand," Lily said furiously, "is that Quidditch isn't everything. It's not because you win one match that you're suddenly the king of the world. Anyway, I think it's time to go, Venus, isn't it?"

The dark-haired girl sighed and smiled apogectically at James, who still looked furious. She did not glance at Sirius once.

"See you in September," she said as Lily was already walking away.

The two boys walked in silence for a moment. James was both angry with himself for having argued with Lily, and angry with Lily for what she had said. She really did not understand him. They saw a little park for children, with two swings, and sat down on them, still in silence.

"You know, she does have a point," Sirius said quietly after a while.

James scowled at his best friend and was not surprised to see him leave. He watched for a long time as the swing rocked back and forth with no one on it. Then he sighed and looked up at the sad sky with the harsh feeling of having lost yet another battle in the war of love.


	15. The Worst Journey To Hogwarts

15

The Worst Journey to Hogwarts

"Who do you think made Head Boy?" Anna asked thoughtfully as the train got off.

The red-haired girl in front of her shrugged. Lily had been named Head Girl as she had wanted, now she was wondering who could be the Head Boy. She just hoped they would get along well.

"I don't know," Lily replied. "Probably the Ravenclaw prefect... or Remus, maybe."

"Honestly," said Venus. "I don't think so, with his, um, particularity, I don't think Dumbledore would do that. I mean, how would he do on the full moon nights? No, definitely not Remus."

"As long as it's not Potter," Lily laughed at the idea.

"Wait, Lily, that's not stupid!" said Venus as Lily goggled at her. "First, he's Captain of the Quidditch team, and whatever you think about it, it's really important. He's also popular and respected by everyone, besides you, that is, and he's got really good marks."

Lily rolled her eyes. "That's great, but what do you make of his lack of discipline? I mean he's got a real problem with authority."

"Well Dumbledore could name him Head Boy to resolve that," Anna said wisely. "I'm sure he would change if he was given such responsibilities."

Lily looked through the window at the bright blue sky and prevented herself from laughing. _Really, Potter Head Boy, where would we be going?_ she said to herself.

"Anna, you're just too naive," Lily said.

The blonde girl stood up and glanced at her with disappointment.

"Really, Lily, I thought you worthed more than that," she shook her head.

Before her two friends could say anything, she had left the carriage. She walked through the corridor, opening the doors as she looked for the Marauders. The third door she opened was the right one. After having been welcomed warmly, she sat down next to Remus and noticed that Sirius was not there.

"Where's Sirius?" she asked, frowning.

James, who was beating Peter at chess for the umpteenth time, shrugged.

"I have no idea. He left us as we got on the train; he had a letter in his hand, I don't know who it was from but he looked weird. But, knowing him, he probably has found some girl."

Anna frowned again and this time looked more closely at James until she saw the Head Boy badge on his chest.

"James!" she exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me you had made Head Boy?"

"I'm trying not to show off," he said with a slight smile. "Or the Head Girl is going to be mad at me."

"She _is_ going to be mad at you, probably," Anna rolled her eyes. "But it's great, congratulations."

"Thank you," he replied. "Moony, I hope you don't mind, I know you're the Prefect and not me-"

"It's alright," Remus interrupted. "Dumbledore explained it all to me and I agreed with him. I just hope you'll be more reasonable now."

"Dear old Moony," James smiled. "I thought you knew me better."

* * *

Lily left the Prefects meeting with her face still red with anger. When she had come in the compartment where the meeting was to take place, she gazed around the room at all the Prefects, then her eyes naturally looked for the Head Boy and fell on James Potter.

"You," she had managed to breathe out after a few seconds of shock.

"Hello," James grinned. "We all were worried that you were not the first to be here. Now that you're here we're able to start."

Then James had made a speech about life in Hogwarts and how Prefects were supposed to be exampled for the other pupils and help making Hogwarts the greatest school for wizards, but Lily was so astonished that she was only half-listening. James Potter, singing the praise of discipline and order! She would never have thought she would hear such a thing one day.

"Anything to add?" he had turned to her once he had finished speaking.

She had shaken her head, mentally strangling him. The Prefects began to make their way out so she quickly followed them, unable to face James. She could not believe how hypocritical he was. And moreover, she could not understand how Dumbledore could possibly have made him Head Boy.

She opened a door and stepped in another corridor, which was so dark that she could hardly see where she was going. _It's strange that there is no light here_, Lily thought as she lit her way with her wand. She was still thinking about James and the Prefect meeting when she nearly fell over.

"Sorry, I had not seen you coming," said a dark voice.

She moved her wand to her right with a slight shudder and gasped as she recognized Sirius. He was sitting against the wall, his long legs stretched over the way, which was the reason why she had almost fell over. He seemed both furious and desperate and she even said to herself that he might have been crying.

"Sirius? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," he grumbled.

"Do you know why the lights are off?" she asked, changing the subject

"No, I don't," he shook his head. "I just wanted to be alone and I thought nobody would find me here."

Lily sighed and wondered if she'd rather go away or talk to Sirius. They had never been friends, quite the contrary as Sirius was, after all, James's best friend, but as she looked into his eyes Lily found that she just did not have the heart to leave him there.

"What's wrong?" she kindly asked as she sat down next to him.

"Oh, nothing. I just learnt a very good piece of news," he answered sarcastically. "My brother is going to join the Death Eaters."

Lily nodded slowly as his words coldly sank into her brain. She just could not imagine what it was like to be part of a family which supported Voldemort, which represented all that you hated. Her family was Muggle so she would never have to deal with such a thing, she knew it was unbearable.

"Not that I didn't know he would become one," Sirius kept on, his voice full of loathing. "I just did not realize. He's only fifteen, you know. The idiot."

With that, Sirius handed her the letter he had received just as he had entered the train, and which had made him leave his friends. He had recognized his mother's handwriting and foreseen that it would be bad news; he had wanted to be alone to read it. As Lily read it, she shook her head in disgusted disbelief. Sirius's mother was singing the praises of her son Regulus, proudly breaking the news to Sirius that his brother would become a Death Eater as soon as he had left Hogwarts. What followed was a long criticism of Sirius, which said, between accusations of betrayal, that he was a shame for his family. The letter ended with a proposition: if Sirius accepted to join Voldemort's cause, he would be welcomed back in the Black family. If he refused, his mother clearly let him know that Regulus or any member of his family would not hesitate to kill him if they were told to.

"God," Lily breathed out. "This is so horrible, I'm sorry for you. I don't know what to say-"

"That's alright," he interrupted unconvincingly.

Suddenly his expression changed; he took the letter from her and pointed his wand at it.

"_Incendio_!"

The letter burst into flames and vanished. Sirius sighed and stood up, soon copied by Lily.

"I'm not going to let these bastards spoil my life," he said firmly.

This time, his voice had recovered its usual self-confident tone. After a while he turned to her, his eyes pleading.

"And, Lily, not a word, okay?"

"I won't tell anyone," she promised. "But you should tell someone, like Remus, for instance."

Sirius looked down at her and smiled slightly.

"Yes, Mum."

She grinned back at him and suddenly out her arms around him. After a few seconds of surprise, he hugged her back.

"Thank you, Lily," he said sincerely.

_James is going to kill me_, he thought with a smile.

* * *

"Hey, watch out, Mudblood," said a sneering, cold voice.

She was so lost in thought that she had bumped into Bellatrix Black as she was making her way back towards her compartment. _This is my lucky day, definitely_, Lily thought sarcastically. She swallowed and decided not to reply anything. She tried to go past him but she and two of her big friends were blocking the way.

"What, have you lost your tongue?" Bellatrix said with a cold smirk, causing her friends to laugh stupidly.

"Get out of the way," Lily replied, staring back at her fiercely.

"Look how she's talking to me," Bellatrix said as if shocked. "You have no right to talk to me this way, you filthy Mudblood."

"Leave her alone, Bellatrix," said a deep, angry voice behind Lily. "Or you will regret it."

Lily had almost forgotten that Sirius was following her. She sighed of relief

"I do not fear you, my dear cousin," said the dark-haired girl scornfully.

"Then you should," Sirius growled.

Lily noticed with a twinge of fear that Bellatrix now had her wand in her hand and was pointing it at her.

"Lily, get out of the way!" Sirius warned.

Lily turned and ruefully placed herself behind Sirius. She was scared because of what had happened with the Slytherins months ago, but in the same time it was not her habit to give up without trying to fight back. She pointed her wand at the Slytherins, just in case, which made her three enemies snigger.

"_Dentesaugmento_!"

Sirius had been the quickest as his cousin was obviously wondering whether to hit Sirius or Lily first. Bellatrix's teeth began to grow out dangerously. Furious, she pointed her wand at Sirius and managed to say: "_Furunculus_!" before running away, followed by her two bodyguards. As they left Bellatrix turned one last time and shouted: "_Expelliarmus_!", taking Sirius by surprise. Once she had Sirius's wand in her hand, they disappeared in the dark corridor. Lily looked worriedly at Sirius and gasped as she saw that his face was covered with horrible spots.

"I hate her," spat Sirius. "She's going to pay for this."

"It's alright, Sirius," Lily said softly. "I'm going to remove all this. _Finite Incantatem_!"

But to Lily's amazement, nothing happened. She frowned and, looking down at her wand, wondered when was the last time she had used it. Why wouldn't it work?

"What? It didn't work?" Sirius asked in a worried tone.

"No, it didn't," Lily shook her head, bewildered. "And I have no idea why it didn't. I'm going to try again. _Finite Incantatem_!"

Again, nothing happened. They both let out a sigh.

"I'm not going to stay like this," Sirius stated firmly. "But I can't go out and get my wand either."

Lily wanted to fetch Sirius's wand for him but did not want to admit that she was afraid of Bellatrix. But seeing the despair in Sirius's eyes she made her decision.

"Alright, I'll go fetch it for you and then come back and remove the spell," she said.

He managed a smile. "Thank you, Lily."

"It's the least I can do, really. Now you could stay in here," she proposed as she opened a door on her right.

She put her head in and looked around. It was a very small, old-looking room with a tiny window which let in only a small ray of light. The room was so dark that Lily couldn't quite see if there was anything in it.

"I guess I don't have the choice," Sirius said as he stepped in the room.

"I promise I won't be long," Lily whispered before closing the door.

* * *

Lily had been gone for only a few minutes when Sirius heard someone walking. What intrigued him was that the footsteps seemed to have stopped just in front of the room's door.

"Who's there?" he called out warily.

There was no answer but Sirius could swear he had heard a faint laugh.

"Who's there?" he repeated, this time with a twinge of impatience in his voice.

"I'm glad we can speak at last," said a cold voice from behind the closed door. "I knew where you were but that Mudblood came and I had to follow you two until Bella took your wand."

"Regulus," Sirius said angrily.

He stood up, went to the door and tried to open it. He frowned as it would not open and wished he had his wand.

"Seems like you can't go out," Regulus sneered.

Sirius banged on the door loudly in a desperate way to open it, all the while cursing his so-called brother.

"No need to do this," the voice kept on scornfully. "Nobody will hear you and I will only open when I have what I want. And don't expect to see your Mudblood friend coming; it will be quite a long while before she gets your wand back."

Sirius felt his anger rise as the other boy laughed cruelly. _He's not my brother_, he repeated to himself over and over again, though he knew it was useless.

"So what do you want, dear brother?" Sirius said sarcastically, though he knew the answer.

"You've read the letter, haven't you? You know what we are expecting from you. Joining us would be the best decision of your life. Don't you realize that soon the Dark Lord will reign over the whole world? It is inevitable," the voice spoke fervently. "But if you stand side by side with Dumbledore, you will get killed. Serve the Dark Lord and you will be saved."

"I'll never join Voldemort!" Sirius shouted. "Do you hear me? Never! I'd rather die."

There was a silence as Sirius tried to restrain his fury.

"That's a pity," Regulus said stiffly after a while. "You're not part of the Black family anymore. You're nothing. Just a blood traitor that will die before having achieved anything in his life."

Sirius heard his brother walking away, and it was not until the footsteps were no longer audible that he realized something.

"Wait!" he yelled, banging on the door. "How am I supposed to get out of here?"

But as he had expected, there was no answer. He sighed and sat down, trying not to burst out with anger. Soon he felt tears of rage on his cheeks and roughly wiped them off. He breathed calmly and tried not to think about what his brother had said. He had another problem: he had to get out of this room, without his wand. After a while, when he had fully recovered from his fury, he got up and tried to open the door once again. _It's no use_, he thought, helplessly shaking his head.

Lily had left the dark corridor and was now approaching the carriage where she had sat with Venus and Anna. Her mind was racing; she was determined to go and get Sirius's wand, but her own wand did not seem to work anymore. There was only one solution: she had to find help. She opened the door of the carriage where she thought she would find Venus, but only saw a group of first years. Disappointed, she suddenly remembered that, having heard that Sirius was nowhere to be found, Venus had decided to go and sit with Remus, Anna and Peter while Lily attended the Prefect meeting. Reassured, Lily resumed walking, opening the doors of the different carriages to see if they were there. It was not until she opened the third one that she realized that James would be probably there, too. _Alright, you've got to stay objective_, she said to herself. _He's Sirius's best friend after all, he's the most concerned_. Complimenting herself for her wisdom, she stepped in the Marauder's carriage to find Remus and Anna kissing in a corner, and James and Venus in deep conversation about Qudditch tactics, with Peter listening to them.

"I've got a problem," she stated.

At once, they fell silent and all turned their full attention to her.

"Or more precisely, Sirius has a problem."

"Sirius? You know where he is, then?" Remus asked, surprised. "He disappeared just as we got in the train."

"I know, and he will certainly explain it to you later, but there is quite an emergency now, Sirius needs help."

Venus laughed. "And you seriously thought I would help Black?"

For once, Lily found herself wishing her best friend did not hate Sirius. Usually she could not really blame her, because, after all, she hated James and thought that Sirius was just the same. But now that she had discovered a side of Sirius's personality she had never suspected, she thought that Venus's loathing was completely pointless.

"Well you're not obliged to come," said Lily rather coldly.

Then she filled them in, only starting when Bellatrix had attacked her, deciding that Sirius should be the one to tell them about his brother. She concluded by saying that she had promised Sirius she would get his wand back and then fix him. Seeing that her wand did not seem to work, she needed their help.

"Let's get going," James said firmly, standing up as soon as Lily had finished speaking. "We've got no time to lose."

"You're right," Remus approved, getting up as well.

Anna made to stand up but Remus gently pushed her back.

"Hey, I want to go too," she protested.

"I know," Remus smiled down at her sweetly. "But I don't want you to get hurt, and if Venus goes as well we'll be four, which is enough. Besides, somebody has got to stay here in case Sirius comes back."

Venus merely sniggered at this supposition. Anna couldn't help but grinned back at Remus.

"Alright, but that's only because you are the sweetest boyfriend in the world."

"So, Venus, you're going?" James asked impatiently. "You would be a great help in front of a whole bunch of Slytherins."

The dark-haired girl looked torn between the will not to let her friends down, and the fact that she was actually going to help _Sirius Black_.

"Right, I'll go," she sighed after a while. "But you'll owe me."

"Good," James nodded. "Any idea where Bellatrix is? Or we're going to have to try all the compartments?"

"Looks like you're taking the head of the expedition, Potter," Lily remarked bitterly. "You can't help it, can you?"

She had not forgotten the Prefect meeting and made it clear that James had better behave.

"Alright, guys," Venus stepped between the two of them. "I am making a HUGE effort by helping Black because he is your friend, so you'll have to make efforts too, okay?"

Her two friends nodded and Lily looked down guiltily, realizing that she had once more let her temper rise because of Potter.

"Maybe we should try and look for her on the map," Peter suggested hopefully.

James and Remus scowled at him but he did not seem to understand, nor to realize that the two girls were no to know about the Marauder's Map.

"Which map?" Lily asked, frowning.

"Nothing," James smiled quickly. "Pete's probably drank some Firewhiskey before going."

And he dragged Lily, Venus and Remus out before any of them could protest.

* * *

They tried all the carriages one by one, forming an unusual queue in the corridors: James, leading the way with his wand out, followed by Remus, and then Lily, who was determined to come even if her wand didn't work, and then Venus, looking only half-interested in what was going to happen to them. After a few minutes, they were going to open yet another door when they heard a roar of loud, stupid laughter. James froze, his hand on the door's knob.

"They're probably in here," he whispered. "Right, so we come in and Petrify them."

"And I look for Sirius's wand," Lily finished.

James smiled at her, nodded and opened the door.

"_Petrificus Totalus_!"

At once, Bellatrix's three friends were Petrified. Bellatrix, whose teeth were still longer than normal, even though she seemed to have tried to fix them, made to reach for her wand but Venus said casually: "_Tarentallegra_!" and suddenly, Bellatrix's legs began to dance uncontrollably. Venus watched her with a smile on her face while Lily began to look for Sirius's wand. James and Remus were making sure no one was coming.

"I can't find it," Lily said.

She had searched through the three Slytherin boys' pockets and on the seats, but it was nowhere to be found.

"Having fun dancing, Bella?" Venus asked scornfully.

"Very funny," Bellatrix managed to retort, her eyes flashing madly.

Venus ignored her and rummaged through the other girl's pockets, finding what she was looking for immediately.

"Got it!" she said, brandishing Sirius's wand.

"Great," Lily said, relieved. "Let's get going."

She considered taking the spells off the Slytherins but decided against it: they were less dangerous like this.

"And all this on our first day as Heads," James said on a fake dismayed tone as he closed the door behind them.

Lily rolled her eyes; she had almost forgotten about that and felt like it was just a big joke.

"Let's go and get Sirius," she said. "I bet he's starting to get worried."

* * *

This time, Sirius heard several people walking in the corridor. That cheered him up: he had been locked up in the dark for what seemed like hours, even though he knew Lily could not have been gone for such a long time. He started banging on the door, hoping with all his heart that whoever was outside was going to open the damn door.

"Lily!" he called out. "Is that you?"

"Yes, Sirius, we're coming," came the reassuring reply.

Sirius sighed of relief. Outside, Lily made to open the door but it remained close.

"I can't open!"

"I know, me neither," Sirius said, disappointed. "Try with your wand."

"_Alohomora_!" said another voice.

To Sirius's relief, the door opened and he saw James's, Lily's, Remus's and Venus's faces, feebly lit up by their wands. James came in at once.

"_Finite_ _Incantatem_!"

James looked warily at his best friend and was relieved when he saw that all the spots had vanished from his face.

"They're gone," he said.

Sirius sighed again and smiled.

"I thought I would never get out of here," he said as he stepped out of the room, followed by James. "Now Lily I didn't know you were bringing the whole team with you; I'm glad to see everyone stood up to come to my rescue."

* * *

"This was like the worst journey to Hogwarts ever," Sirius had said as they entered the castle.

He had finally told his fellow Marauders about his brother Regulus, and they had all agreed that he could not do anything about it, and that it was yet another reason to part from his family. Now that he had told his friends about it, he felt somewhat better. Perhaps, after all, Regulus would change his mind when he would see what Voldemort would ask him to do. Yet Sirius doubted his brother could ever get out of it alive.

"Cheer up, Padfoot," said James next to him, his mouth full of food. "You'd better take a piece of cake or there won't be any left."

Sirius obeyed. "Yes, Mister Head Boy."

Remus smiled as James nearly choked. Peter stared at James expectantly as though asking him if he could laugh.

"Don't call me like that," he protested, though his eyes were twinkling.

"Oh but that's what you are," Sirius said maliciously. "Dumbledore's little pet, Mister Perfect Prefect."

"That's unfair, you used to call Remus like that."

"Thank you, James," Remus rolled his eyes.

"See the bright side of it, Prongs," Sirius said cheerfully. "You're going to get to spend loads of time with Miss Evans."

James smiled broadly. "What do you think I accepted being Head Boy for?"


	16. Entente Cordiale

16

Entente Cordiale

On the next morning when she woke up, Lily found a rolled up letter on her bedside table. It was a short note from Dumbledore, Lily realized with a start. She was happily surprised, having never received such a thing before. But now I'm Head Girl, she said to herself proudly. She rubbed her eyes and concentrated on the words. The note said that both Heads were to his office just before classes started. Lily smiled; she liked being in charge and could not wait to see the Heads' private rooms. Yet, at the prospect that she would have to share them with James Potter, her enthusiasm vanished. However, she decided that this day would be a good one and quickly headed to the Great Hall. It was almost empty because a lot of pupils were still sleeping; so were Anna and Venus. Lily just did not want to be late for the meeting with Dumbledore.

"Hello, Lily!"

James Potter was waving at her cheerfully at the far end of the Gryffindor table. She rolled her eyes but made her way towards him nevertheless. Since they were to spend much more time together now, she had better get used to it; she would even have to work with him. Lily cringed at the idea.

"So you got Dumbledore's letter?" James said as she sat down in front of him.

"Very good guess Potter," she said sarcastically before she could stop herself. "I mean, James."

She attempted an apologetic smile but it looked more like a wince. Lily was aware of the fact that she was not herself whenever she was near him; he just got on her nerves. I must make efforts, she thought. Maybe it won't be that bad.

"I'm sorry," she finally said, sighing. "I know we should try and get on well, and I admit I don't make it very easy."

"That's alright. I know I can be a little... annoying myself."

It cost a great deal to Lily not to roll her eyes at the euphemism.

Half an hour later, after a short chat with Dumbledore, James and Lily were in the Heads' rooms, having managed not to argue too much. The large living-room was coloured in red and gold, Gryffindor colours. It had a few comfortable armchairs, a round table, a crackling fire and bookshelves so full they had made Lily gasp. Two wooden doors led to James's and Lily's bedrooms, where all their belongings were waiting for them. A third door led to the bathroom, which was bigger than any bathrooms Lily and James had ever been in. It was even more impressive that the Prefects' bathroom, which was saying a lot.

"It's already eight," James said from behind Lily, startling her.

She had been staring around the room, already thinking about the long bath she would take that evening, but was cruelly reminded that the day had just begun.

At the end of an unusually easy lesson, Professor McGonagall gave the pupils a roll of parchment for them to write their names and the name of the wizard of witch they wanted to spend one week with. Venus and Lily chose Mary Turner as they had planned, Sirius and James went for Alastor Moody, and Anna for William McNorris. Peter wrote down Laetitia Smith's name; she was a banker at Gringott's. James couldn't help but glanced over what Remus was writing as the sandy-haired boy had not yet told them what he was going to do. James was quite surprised when he read Julius McKenzie's name. Julius was a famous Auror and was James's father's cousin.

"That's a good choice, Moony," James said once Remus had passed the roll of parchment to a giggling Victoria Bell.

"Well I supposed I could try the best," Remus replied, not looking surprised that James had managed to read the name. "Seeing that I probably won't be able to find a job anyway."

"Don't say that," James protested quietly. "Don't let your... fury little problem spoil your life."

Remus laughed slightly and shook his head, wishing all wizards thought like James, which was unfortunately far from reality.

"Mr Potter, Mr Lupin," McGonagall said rather stiffly. "You might be interested in what I'm about to say, therefore you should, for once, listen. The training period will take place in April, from the 1st to the 8th. You are free to go now."

She gestured towards the door. At once, the pupils stood up and quickly made their way out of the classroom. Lily, however, headed towards McGonagall's desk. She had finally decided to have a word with her as her wand still did not work. Lily assumed Bellatrix or another Slytherin had put some non-verbal spell on it on the train.

"Yes, Miss Evans?" McGonagall said, looking up inquiringly at her favourite student.

"Professor, my wand doesn't work for some reason," Lily replied with her best imitation of an innocent tone. "I was wondering if you could fix it."

The older woman frowned as Lily handed her the wand. Lily hoped her teacher would not be too inquiring.

"It happened yesterday on the train, I think," she added.

For a while, McGonagall examined Lily's wand in silence.

"Somebody must have put a spell on it," McGonagall said evasively, as though to make Lily tell her more.

Suddenly, Lily remembered about a non-verbal spell she had read about the year before. It could prevent a wand from working during twenty-four hours. Of course, there was a simple counter spell and Lily could have prevented easily if only it had occurred to her.

"The Statio curse, Professor?" she asked.

"Yes, most likely," McGonagall nodded.

She pointed her wand at Lily's and said "_Moveri_!". With an intrigued look she gave the wand back to its owner.

"_Orchideus_!" Lily tried in a whisper.

To her relief, a bunch of flowers appeared at the end of her wand; it was working perfectly. She smiled at her teacher.

"Thank you, Professor," she said happily.

"Anytime, Miss Evans. But tell me, do you have any idea about who was it who cast the spell? I must admit I am quite surprised."

She was staring at Lily quite severely. The red-haired girl looked down and decided that she had better not say it was Bellatrix because they could both get into trouble after all.

"No, I have no idea," Lily lied. "Well goodbye, Professor."

And she quickly walked out of the classroom and into the corridor. She nearly ran to join her classmates who were heading towards the Potions classroom for their next lesson.

"My wand's working!" she told Anna excitedly. "It was a Statio spell. I had read about it in a book, I can't believe I did not think of it! We only study it in seventh year, but I guess Bellatrix and her little friends find this kind of spells really amusing."

"So you think she did it?" Anna asked.

"Yes, probably," Lily answered. "I have no proof, though. That's why I didn't tell McGonagall I knew who had done this."

Ahead of them, Venus was asking James about the Quidditch trials.

"They're on Saturday afternoon," James said. "I'm keeping the whole team; I just need a keeper seeing that Mark Riley is no longer here."

Venus nodded, inwardly relieved the boy was gone. As they approached the Potions classroom, she suddenly wondered why Lestrange had not attended the feast the day before. Once they had entered the classroom she got her answer: it was not Lestrange, but Professor Slughorn who was waiting for them. He was balding and had put on weight since the last time she had seen him. His enormous moustache was still there, only there was a little white in it. He had left Hogwarts two years before because his wife had been killed by a Death Eater and Dumbledore had let him go because he had said he needed some time. He had been replaced by Lestrange, and they did not know when he would come back.

"Hello!" Slughorn greeted them warmly. "Surprised to see me, aren't you?"

_That's the least you can say_, Venus thought darkly. She had never liked Slughorn much, though he was much better than Lestrange, because he only seemed to worship excellence at Potions and links with famous wizards. Since Venus had neither, she wasn't, and did not regret it at all, part of the Slug Club, as the Potions Master liked to call it. She had been invited once to one of his parties in first year because Slughorn had taught her father, and she had hated it. She had been so bored she had started to walk around and annoy everyone, especially the Slytherins, and Slughorn had finally told her to go out, saying it was "just disappointing" to see that her father was not as good at raising his children as he was at Potions. Venus remembered Sirius had been almost dragged out as well for hexing a Slytherin. Slughorn had also told him something about not being like the rest of his family, but Sirius had taken it as a compliment. Venus also remembered that Sirius had followed her to the common room, threatening to hex her, and that she had ended up running up to her dormitories, throwing things at Sirius as she climbed up the stairs. Venus laughed at the memory, which earned her a depreciative look from Slughorn.

"Miss Evans," Slughorn beamed at Lily, ignoring Venus. "It's such a pleasure to see you again, my dear girl."

Lily smiled at him as she sat down at the front row, but her grin was slightly forced. She had not forgotten that being one of Slughorn's favourite pupils had more drawbacks than advantages. Slughorn waited for all the pupils to sit down before speaking again.

"I wish you to brew the Veritaserum today."

There was a collective gasp.

"I know this is a very difficult one," Slughorn admitted. "And I don't expect you to succeed, but this year you've got loads to learn for your NEWTS, so you'd better start to get ready today. As I said, I don't expect you to succeed, only to try and do your best."

Only Lily looked excited to brew such a difficult potion. Some of the pupils were wondering if they could take some of it for their own use and Lily, having heard them, said it was the most stupid thing she had ever heard, because if the potion was not well prepared it could cause grave damage. Slughorn approved her and began pairing up the pupils.

"Venusta Vance with Sirius Black."

At this announcement, Venus felt a mixture of exasperation and slight happiness; she had been thinking a lot about Sirius over the summer. Too much, to her mind, but she could not help it. She did not know what to think of it, and even though she had wanted to tell Lily and Anna several times, she had never found the courage. Moreover, she thought she was just being stupid and that it would stop soon. But as she glanced briefly at Sirius, she felt butterflies in her stomach and knew this was far from being over. Turning to Lily and Anna, she quickly composed her face and sighed, looking as if it was the worst thing that had ever happened to her.

"I already love seventh year," she said sarcastically, loud enough for Sirius to hear.

Indeed, the last time she had teamed up with Sirius in Potions, in fifth year, they had spent their time arguing loudly and their cauldron had exploded. They had both got detention; she hoped it would be better this time. Venus was sure Slughorn had paired her up with Sirius on purpose, knowing they hated each other.

"Lily Evans and James Potter."

"This is just my luck," the red-haired girl muttered.

She rolled her eyes, but Venus noticed that her friend did not look so disgruntled. Frowning, Venus sat down next to Sirius, at James's usual place in the back.

"Still terrible at Potions?" Sirius asked snidely.

"Still," she replied evenly, shrugging. "Like you."

He glanced sideways at her, scowling. "So you really want to get detention."

She didn't answer but smiled slightly, as though glad she had managed to annoy him so easily. Annoying him seemed like a good remedy against the embarrassment she felt, and for which she hated him even more.

"Please listen!" Professor Slughorn said to quiet the pupils.

The two of them did not share a word nor a glance as their teacher gave the instructions.

Half an hour and a few arguments later, their potion was pale blue while it should have been totally colourless, but they had finally agreed on something: it could have been worse. On their left, Anna was doing her best to help Peter, but having never been much of a Potion brewer herself, the result was quite disastrous. Remus, who had, to his dismay, been paired up with Aurelia Combs, was doing most of the work himself as the girl was, as usual, staring off into space. Venus couldn't quite see the colour of their potion as they were too far away.

"I hope he won't mark it," Sirius said.

"Yeah," Venus agreed. "But it's still better than with Lestrange."

Sirius nodded absent-mindedly and looked past her at Lily and James, relieved to see that they were not arguing. James caught his friend's gaze and discreetly gave him the thumbs up. Sirius grinned back at him and, when he turned back to Venus, saw that she was peering at something behind him.

"What are you staring at?" he asked, frowning.

Without waiting for an answer, he turned to see Severus Snape and another Slytherin, Caius Lorry. Caius was considered as a very good-looking boy, in a cold sort of way. He had dark hair and magnificent icy grey eyes.

"What, don't tell me you like Lorry, too?" Sirius exclaimed, looking both shocked and furious.

Venus couldn't suppress her laughter. She despised Caius just like every Slytherin; she was only looking at them to see how they were doing. As much as she loathed the boy, she knew Snape was excellent at Potions. Still she found Sirius's reaction funny. She thought there was a hint of jealousy in his eyes, but it was probably just her imagination. Just to annoy Sirius, she winked at Caius and smiled. The Slytherin stared at her coldly as though she was mad, before returning placidly to his work. Venus then looked at Sirius defiantly and this time it was clear to her.

"What, you're jealous?" she teased him, smirking.

Sirius froze and turned slightly pink. Venus felt a strange sensation in her stomach and had to take a deep breath to be back to normal. She really did not want Sirius to know the way he made her feel.

"I would never be jealous of a Slytherin," he proclaimed with dignity.

She smiled and shook her head. She had expected a snarling reply, like "Don't even dream about it!". Not this, anyway; she was taken aback.

"Alright," she said, still smiling slightly. "Actually, I was only looking at their potion."

It suddenly dawned on Sirius that she had tricked him.

"Oh," he said on a self-confident tone. "I knew it."

Venus's smile broadened. "Sure."


	17. Full Moon, Pranks and Stolen Kisses

17

Full Moon, Pranks And Stolen Kisses

Venus absent-mindedly tugged at her pony-tail as she looked around the common room. Most of the Gryffindors were still in the Great Hall having dinner; Anna was in the hospital wing with Remus, waiting for Madam Pomfrey to lead him to the Shrieking Shack, and Lily and James were busy with their Head duties. They were now halfway through October; the time had passed by really quickly; considering the huge amount of homework they had to deal with, added to the Quidditch practises; Venus barely had time to think about anything else so she had rather enjoyed doing nothing;after a while, however, boredom soon overcame her The only people in the room were a bunch of first years and Sirius Black. He was sitting, remarkably alone, on his favourite armchair by the fire, apparently busy counting something, but Venus could not quite see what. She was curious to know what it was because, after all, she had nothing to do and was bored to death. At least, that was what she was trying to convince herself of. After a while she decided to go and see what Sirius was up to.

"Hey, Black."

Sirius startled, having not seen nor heard her coming. He looked up at her, surprised.

"What are you up to?" she asked casually as if they were the greatest friends in the world.

She sat down in front of him and noticed that he was holding a dozen Dugbombs.

"What are these for?" she asked, interested.

"Slytherins," he grumbled as if it was obvious.

She nodded and tugged at her ponytail again, this time nervously. He frowned as he realized that she was still there, staring at him expectantly.

"So, what exactly are you going to do? I'm bored and wouldn't be against bothering some Slytherins."

Sirius sighed and took a dramatic voice.

"Well you see, I'm not sure I can trust you -"

"Where's the fun in life if you don't take some risks?" she interrupted, smirking.

For a while he just watched the flames dance in her eyes, and then his face broke into a smile.

"That's right," he admitted. "I thought I'd put some of these in the Slytherins' common room."

He beckoned at the Dugbombs on his lap. Venus looked at him as if he was mad and laughed slightly.

"Really, I didn't think you were that stupid, Black. How on earth could you do this without being caught?"

Sirius shook his head, as though disappointed by the fact that she underestimated his pranking talents.

"That's very simple," he replied confidently.

He pulled out James's Invisible Cloak from his bag and smiled at Venus's amazement.

"I understand now," Venus whispered.

She looked lost in thought suddenly; Sirius wondered if he had not made a mistake.

"Don't tell anyone about it."

"Right," Venus said quietly, still staring at the Cloak. "I'm going with you."

* * *

Sirius smiled; he and Venus were about to enter the Slytherins' common room. They had followed a bunch of Slytherins through many dark corridors and stairways under James's Cloak without being seen. Presently they were walking down the very last corridor. Sirius could see the common room's large gloomy door; he was glad he could pull a good old prank on the Slytherins - it was the first of the school year. The only thing Sirius had not planned was how awkward it would be to be so close to Venus.

"_Serpula_," said a tall, red-haired Slytherin.

They were lucky enough to manage to slip into the room without the Slytherins noticing anything. Sirius thought they could not get any thicker. Venus and he waited for all the Slytherins to sit down, and then it all happened very quickly: they threw the dungbombs on the Slytherins, stayed there only long enough to see their astonished faces, and then left, walking as fast as they could under the Cloak. Sirius blessed God to have made these fifth year Slytherins so stupid. Once they were far away enough they removed the Cloak to have a good laugh. Venus had always known she had the soul of a prankster.

* * *

"Ouch, you're stepping on my foot!"

Venus let out a gasp of pain and swore she would never walk under an Invisibility Cloak with Sirius Black again. It was at least the third time he stepped on her foot and it was starting to get really annoying. Besides, she had no idea where they were and hoped Sirius knew where they were going.

"Shut up!" Sirius whispered.

He had stopped walking and looked as though he had heard something. Venus was indignant that he was telling her to shut up when he should have been apologizing.

"What?" she said loudly.

"Shut up!" Sirius repeated fiercely.

"How dare-"

But before she could finish whatever she was going to say, something incredibly unexpected happened: Sirius kissed her. She was hardly aware of what was going on but thought she saw Filch just a few feet away from them, looking around as though he had heard something, before finally walking away. It was not until Filch was out of sight that Sirius let go of her.

"Alright, what was that?" she asked breathlessly.

Frowning, Sirius opened a door behind her and they entered an old empty classroom.

"Well you wouldn't shut up and Filch was coming," Sirius finally answered, casually leaning again the closed door, with Venus facing him.

"It wasn't just that, was it?"

She looked away, hoping her voice did not betray her eagerness. She hoped he felt as she did. Yet he did not seem to care much about that kiss; not as much as her anyway. All she wanted to do was kiss him again. Presently she didn't care about anything else and seemed to have forgotten that she used to despise Sirius more than anything.

"What do you mean?"

She had retreated from him a little, on purpose. The room was dark except for the faint light coming from Sirius's wand and Venus was grateful he could not see her embarrassment. She thought her heart was breaking the moment he said this. Was she really making a fool of herself? Maybe Sirius still disliked her after all. She suddenly felt tears burning her eyes and had to take a deep breath to choke them back.

"I thought -" she started, but the words would not go out of her mind.

What could she tell him? She was starting to feel sorry she had thought going with Sirius to pull a prank would be a good idea. She suddenly felt that she couldn't stay in this room with Sirius anymore; she simply couldn't bear it. She stepped towards the door and roughly pushed Sirius out of the way. Not wanting to talk to him she quickly walked away, and practically ran down the corridor, completely oblivious to the fact that she could get detention.

* * *

When she woke up the next morning, Venus found herself mortified by the mere thought of seeing Sirius. She wasn't sure she would be able to face him. She wished she had not run away the night before: it would have been less complicated to sort it out then. She was actually even more confused and unsure of Sirius's feelings than the day before. If only she had been brave enough to tell him how she felt! She sighed as she began to dress up mechanically, trying not to think about a certain dark-haired boy.

"What's wrong, Venus?" Anna asked kindly. "Looks like something's tormenting you."

The brunette didn't answer at once, but when she did she avoided the question. She felt she just could not tell her friends about her feelings for Sirius, at least not before talking to him.

"Do you mind if we sit at the Ravenclaw table at breakfast, with my cousin Paige?"

"No, I don't," Anna replied, frowning. "But why-"

"I just want to see her, that's all," Venus lied casually.

Fifteen minutes later, the three girls were having breakfast with Paige and Emma. To Venus's dismay, they were not that far from where the Marauders were sitting and she knew perfectly well that Sirius was most likely looking in her direction. She was concentrating so hard on her food that it took her a while to notice that her cousin was staring at her strangely.

"What?" she said sharply. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing," Paige replied calmly. "It's just... Black seems to be staring at you and beckoning you to come over."

Venus felt herself go red in the face.

"I'm sure he's looking at Emma, not me," she finally said, not sounding too convincing.

She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and thought her whole body was bursting into flames, yet she was shivering at the same time. Fighting back those feelings, she took a deep breath and turned to look at Sirius.

"Hello," he said, his voice not sounding as self-confident as usual. "I don't think we understood each other very well last night."

"I think it was very clear," she stated coldly, avoiding his gaze.

After a moment of awkward silence, Sirius suddenly blurted, "It wasn't just to make you shut up."

This time she looked up at him, not quite believing what she had just heard. But she knew something: the embarrassed glint in his eyes was sincere. She had never seen him like this.

"Couldn't we discuss this alone?" Sirius asked.

Venus closed her eyes and tried to imagine that she was on a desert island, with the sun shining down on her face - but soon the image of Sirius kissing her replaced it. Her face turned red and she wished she had stayed in her dormitories.

"If you want, Black."

She was trying to act casual, aware of the fact that a lot of people in her surroundings were staring at her. She stood up proudly and followed Sirius out of the Great Hall. She tried hard not to think at all; therefore she had no idea as to where Sirius was leading her. She was only half surprised when they entered an old empty classroom, bringing back memories of the previous night.

"So, why are we here?" Venus asked on a fake casual tone.

She crossed her arms, embarrassed by Sirius's silence and his insistent stare.

"I believe you know it well," he replied, stepping towards her. "Why did you run away yesterday?"

She sighed, unconsciously leaning against the door to distant herself from him.

"Well... you kissed me," she muttered lamely.

He smiled warmly at her. His grin was very different from the sarcastic smirk he usually gave her. She looked down as she found it extremely easier to gaze at the floor rather than at Sirius, and could not help but smile too. Before she had realised it, his face was only a few inches away from her own, and the next second they were kissing. When they broke apart she got lost in his eyes for a moment; everything around them seemed to have disappeared. He kissed her again, running his hand through her hair.

"It was worth staying this time, wasn't it?" he joked.

He gazed at her as she smiled back at him happily; Sirius thought she had never looked so beautiful.

"Oh no," Venus moaned. "We've got to go; we're already late for the Transfiguration class."

"Don't worry baby, I'll find a good excuse."

He opened the door for her, a smile lingering on his face. She walked outside the room, turned and looked at him with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

"Don't call me baby," she said, pointing at him threateningly.

He laughed as they started walking towards their classroom. "Or what?"

"Or you might never go to that Transfiguration class because you'll be too busy hiding those horrible, huge spots that you'll have on your face."

"Oh, I'm terrified, baby-"

Sirius did not finish his sentence as Venus threatened to hit him with her bag.

* * *

"I wonder where Venus is," Lily whispered to Anna for the umpteenth time.

And for the umpteenth time, her friend replied that she had no idea. As McGonagall was preparing herself to turn a frightened-looking Remus into a toad, the door opened like magic and Venus and Sirius entered. Lily goggled at the dark-haired girl as she sat down next to her.

"Excuse us, Professor," Sirius said as he stood next to his table, gesturing towards Venus. "I actually saw Venus being attacked by a few boys, whom I think were Slytherins but I did not have time to see them well, so I came to her rescue and they ran away."

Venus had frozen and looked about to burst. McGonagall seemed astonished, her expression clearly showing that she did not believe a single word that Sirius had said, but did not have any proof that it had not happened that way.

"Right," McGonagall said frowning. "Mr Black, you can sit down. Miss Vance, you will come to see me at the end of the lesson. Now we can go back to Transfiguration. Mr Lupin, if you please?"

"That was your excuse?" Venus mouthed to Sirius.

She looked angry, amazed and happy at the same time, which resulted into a very peculiar look on her face.

"Why do you look so weird?" Lily whispered. "Where were you? I mean where you really were."

Venus shrugged, smiling. Lily shook her head and turned to see the look on Sirius's face; he wore a satisfied smile and a dreamy look. Frowning, Lily decided that this strange behaviour needed investigation.


	18. Losing Is Winning

18

Losing Is Winning

"Sirius, can we talk to you for a moment?" Anna said, standing up from Remus's lap.

She, Lily, Remus and Sirius were chatting and studying in the common room. It was just before dinner time; James and Venus were out practicing some new Quidditch tactics, since the first match of the school year was to take place on the next day.

Sirius looked up from his Charms essay. "Sure."

"Oh no, for once he was studying," Remus complained.

Anna grinned. "I'm sure a million of other things could prevent him from working, you know."

"Besides, you can be a good friend and finish it for me," Sirius said to Remus, his face serious.

Remus rolled his eyes. "You already owe me a thousand essays at least. But that's alright, I'll write a few lines for you in the library."

"Thank you, Moony," Sirius said sweetly as Remus left. "Now what is it that you girls want to tell me?"

"Well, I don't know how to begin," Anna started haltingly.

They looked at each other in silence for a moment.

"We know about you and Venus," Lily blurted out suddenly.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "How?"

"We guessed it," Lily shrugged.

"And you're the only ones to know, right?" he demanded.

The girls nodded and he sighed of relief.

"And what do you think about it?"

"We think it's great," Lily replied, smiling. "But we've been wondering... who are you going to Hogsmeade with?"

There was a trip to Hogsmeade planned for the next weekend. Sirius smiled broadly.

"Don't tell me both of you want to go with me?"

Lily rolled her eyes, grinning back at him. "Of course not, you idiot. But we thought you could go with Venus on a real... date, you know."

Sirius seemed to consider Lily's proposition for a moment. The reason why they had not told anyone yet was not because they cared about what people thought, but because they were not sure themselves that they wanted to date officially.

"Right, I'll ask her," Sirius decided, and then added as an afterthought: "It seems strange to think that we hated each other just a few months ago."

"Yes," Anna said, "but hate can sometimes be the beginning of a love story."

She was looking at Lily.

* * *

On the next day, Sirius, James and Venus were walking towards the Quidditch pitch when they saw the Slytherin team walking towards them. They looked scornful as usual, but the Gryffindors could see that they had been training a lot. Their captain, Gwenog Jones, stopped and said: 

"I hope you are ready for this afternoon, Potter. I've seen your new Keeper playing and he really sucks. He might not make a single save. That would be funny."

The Slytherins laughed evilly. Venus looked at Gwenog contemptuously. She had been her enemy ever since first year. Gwenog had blonde waist-length hair and icy blue eyes. She could have been considered beautiful if it wasn't for her large, crooked nose. Venus had hated her ever since they had met, especially since she had become Slytherin's captain the previous year. They both played as Chasers and it was a real fight between them as to who would score more goals.

"He's still better than your Keeper," Venus replied fiercely.

Jones really had a gift for making her angry. The other girl just shook her head, smirking, and Venus stepped towards her. She felt like hitting her even if she knew she should not.

"Don't do that, she's not worth it."

Sirius, much to everyone's surprise, had stepped between the two girls. Venus looked at him and surrendered, letting Gwenog go away with her team.

"And it's said that Gryffindors are brave!" Gwenog remarked as they left.

Venus took a deep breath and nodded.

"I guess I should thank you," she said to Sirius. "You're right; she really is not worth it. But I can't help it, she's driving me mad."

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about."

They looked at each other and laughed, thinking about all those years of arguments. James was intrigued.

"I think it's the very first time I've seen you two laughing together," he said, frowning.

"Oh well," Venus said, quickly composing a scornful expression. "It's Quidditch day today, better put your personal feelings aside."

James shook his head and resumed walking towards the pitch. Sirius and Venus were grateful he was in his Quidditch Captain mood; otherwise he would have inquired them about their strange behaviour.

* * *

Lily rather enjoyed being the only one at school, along with Anna, to know that Sirius and Venus were together. She had to admit they hid it very well, but after a week of watching their expression closely whenever they were together, it became obvious to her. Lily smiled and cheered as her friends entered the pitch. Once again she had forced herself to attend a Quidditch game, since Venus had told her it was important to her. 

At the sight of James, Lily felt slightly angry. She had been aggrieved when, the day before, James had told her about his wish to organize a Ball for Christmas. Lily had answered that there had never been Balls at Hogwarts, except for the Triwizard Tournament, and that Dumbledore would probably refuse. However, when they had asked the Headmaster, he had agreed with James, on the condition that both Heads would settle everything, saying that they should not miss an occasion to enjoy themselves. Lily could not really refuse to take part in James's idea, and the dark-haired boy had looked rather proud of it.

"And Slytherin scores the first goal of the game!"

Lily started, not having paid attention to the match. She realized that James Potter seemed to have invaded her thoughts as of late.

* * *

"I hate her. I swear I'm going to kill her." 

Venus sighed and threw her broom across the changing room. She was mad at Gwenog Jones once again. Slytherin had won because their Seeker had caught the Snitch just under

James's nose, and Gwenog, of course, had made a fuss about it. Venus could not stand her boasting, therefore she had left the pitch at once, retreating in the changing room.

"And I would hate to see you go to Azkaban," Sirius remarked behind her.

She turned around, surprised. She thought she would be alone for a couple of minutes before the discouraged team arrived.

"Oh yes, of course," she said bitterly. "As if you cared about me."

Sirius frowned. He knew it would be hard to talk to her after the defeat, but he certainly did not expect that.

"I know we lost," Sirius said, aggrieved. "But it's no reason to say that. If I didn't care about you, would I be here trying to cheer you up?"

She looked down sheepishly, realizing her words had hurt him.

"You're quite bad at cheering up," she whispered, smiling sadly.

"That's only because I have not started yet."

He stepped towards her and she let him hug her for a minute.

"I can't believe they won," she said, shaking her head as they parted.

"I know, me neither," he replied softly.

She sat down, looking only slightly better. They remained silent for a moment, and then Sirius decided to ask her out. He felt strange because it had never been a problem for him, quite the contrary. It was the first time he felt nervous and anxious that she would say no.

"I don't know if it's the right time to ask you, but you know there's a trip to Hogsmeade next weekend."

She looked up at him, knowing what he was getting at, but wanting to let him continue as his unusual embarrassment amused her.

"And?" she said gently.

"Would you like to go with me? I mean as my official girlfriend, if we can say that."

"Oh, I'm not sure I want to be Sirius Black's official girlfriend," she taunted.

Sirius laughed. "Liar, you're dying for it!"

She grinned back at him. "I'll be glad to go with you. But I don't really know how the others will take it."

"We don't care much, do we?" he said, shrugging. "Anyway, Anna and Lily already know."

"Oh," she replied, raising her eyebrows. "And when were you going to tell me?"

"Calm down, I just found out yesterday. Don't start to annoy me," he joked.

She smiled and kissed him, grateful for his efforts to cheer her up. She was already looking forward to the trip to Hogsmeade. She pulled back when she heard someone coming in. It was James, and, of course, he looked devastated. Like Venus, he did not bear losing, especially against the Slytherins.

"Hey mate," Sirius said cautiously. "Er, I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I meant to tell you but-"

He stopped speaking, since James was still standing there with a strange look on his face. Suddenly, James walked towards them gravely; Sirius and Venus looked at each other and began to worry.

"Are you alright?" Venus asked, her voice shaking slightly. "What do you think about it? Please say something."

"Yeah, anything," Sirius added eagerly.

James scowled at them, taking his time.

"I'm disgusted," he spat.

His friends gaped in horror. To Sirius, if James was disgusted that he was dating Venus, it was the end of the world.

"But, but you said I was in denial just this summer!" Sirius said desperately. "You didn't seem to have a problem with it at all!"

"What?" Venus exclaimed in disbelief. "You mean he knew it even before we did?"

"Wait," James said slowly. "What _exactly_ are you talking about?"

"Well, Venus and me dating. What are _you_ talking about?"

James goggled at them.

"I'm talking about the game!"

"Oh," said the other two.

There was an uncomfortable silence; the three of them had frozen.

"So you two are dating?" James asked, his voice even.

They nodded, awaiting his reaction. His previously tired and angry expression was replaced by a goofy smile, and soon he was jumping around them like a child in front of his Christmas present.

"That's great!" he exclaimed. "I knew it, I knew it, didn't I tell you, Padfoot?"

"Yes, you did," Sirius agreed.

He grinned back at his friend, relieved. For one horrible minute he had thought James was mad at him, even if it had seemed to him very unlikely, since James had always liked Venus.

"Now, now, aren't we going to celebrate this?" James proposed happily. "Since we lost, we'll have something to celebrate."

The look on Venus's face clearly showed that she did not wish to 'celebrate' it.

"Let him 'celebrate' it, if that can help him forget about the defeat," she whispered in Sirius's ear.

Sirius nodded and smiled at her.

"What are you saying, lovebirds? I must say you really look cute together," James said, mimicking his grandmother's voice.

Sirius rolled his eyes as they walked out of the changing room.

"I'm not sure he deserves such kindness," Venus whispered, shaking her head.

"We don't deserve it either anyway," Sirius said and kissed her.

James stopped walking and pointed at them dramatically.

"I don't want to see that, alright? Remember I'm Head Boy, I'm innocent and all that stuff, don't shock me."

Sirius laughed and they resumed walking towards the castle where they would find a gloomy Gryffindor common room. But they did not care, because they were together.


	19. Secrets Revealed

19

SECRETS REVEALED

Anna gently knocked on door of the boys' dormitories. It was eight o'clock on Saturday morning, the day of the trip to Hogsmeade, and she wanted to have breakfast with Remus.

"Come in," said a voice.

She opened the door and rolled her eyes as she stepped into the messy room. There were clothes, Quidditch magazines and rolls of parchment everywhere on the floor, especially around Sirius's bed.

"Hello," she said happily as she sat down on Remus's bed and kissed him on the cheek. "You could tidy up sometimes, honestly."

"I like to live in a mess," Sirius answered, lazily lying on his bed. "Why didn't you bring my charming girlfriend with you?"

"Didn't want to come," Anna responded maliciously.

Sirius got up to look at her suspiciously. He was still unsure about everything involving Venus. His usual self-confidence seemed to have vanished the day he had first kissed her.

"I'm kidding," Anna rolled her eyes. "She's actually busy getting ready. I've never seen her like that."

She laughed and shook her head.

"I prefer that," Sirius approved. "So what are we going to do today? I mean, with Venus, we wanted to spend the day just the two of us, you know, but if you guys mind-"

"No, that's fine," Remus interrupted. "I wanted to spend the day with Anna."

They looked at each other for a while, embarrassed.

"James and Lily," Anna whispered.

* * *

James sighed and kicked a stone in frustration as he walked. It seemed that, on this cold and windy day, everyone but him had someone to warm them up. Sirius and Venus, teasing each other as usual, led the way to Hosmeade, followed by Anna and Remus, walking hand in hand. Peter, who was ill, had stayed in the castle, which left only Lily, staring off into space, and James who stayed behind on purpose. Even if he was sincerely happy for his friends, this display of love made him sick and painfully aware of the red-head ahead of him. He was doing his best not to waste it all and made efforts not to provoke her or make a fool of himself as he used to do. Finally it was beginning to work: Lily was hardly ever mad at him, even if she did not like his idea to set upa Ball (though James suspected it was only because he had had the idea, and not she). They even happened to have polite and funny conversations in the Heads' apartments. 

"Hey, mate."

As he was resolutely staring at his feet while walking, James had not seen Sirius and nearly bumped into him.

"How are you? You look weird," Sirius said with concern. "I knew that you would resent me for spending the day with Venus, but I thought that you wouldn't mind so much since you had an occasion to be alone with Lily."

"Well, you know, that's the point," James sighed as they resumed walking. "I'm losing hope."

"Didn't you say it was improving?" Sirius said with his eyebrows raised.

James shrugged. "Yes it is, I guess. But I bet she's got a lot of people to meet in Hogsmeade, hasn't she? Why would she stay with me?"

"Why don't you just ask her?" Sirius said patiently.

"Yeah, sure. Let's do this right now," James replied sarcastically.

And, as if to prove Sirius wrong, James called Lily. The red-haired girl turned with a surprised look.

"What is it?" she inquired rather warily.

"I wondered - since I can't stay with Sirius and Remus, obviously - if I could spend the day with you?" James asked hopefully, and then quickly added: "you know, I won't be annoying, I promise-"

"Right," Lily interrupted him, laughing. "That might be nice. I'm meeting some friends at the Three Broomsticks, though."

"Sure," James agreed, completely shocked by her accepting to spend the day with him. "Whatever's fine by me."

Lily turned away with a shrug and joined the others. James turned to Sirius and looked at him with disbelief.

"I can't believe it," he said, shaking his head.

"You're a great guy, James," Sirius said earnestly. "She has come to realize it at last."

He patted his friend on the shoulder and both of them resumed walking towards Hogsmeade, one of them much happier than he had been before.

* * *

After spending two agreeable hours at the Three Broomsticks, they had decided to go to Honeydukes. So far James had kept his promise not to be annoying, Lily reflected. Really, he was being nice and funny. And, she had to admit it, charming. She was so deep in conversation with him about their first visit to Hogsmeade, carefully avoiding to mention James's hexing Snape at least ten times, that she did not realize that her friends had left. 

"Where have they all gone?"

"I think some of them are going back to Hogwarts. The others mentioned something about leaving us alone so we could patrol."

"Oh yes, I had almost forgotten about that."

Lily blushed slightly, truly astonished that she had forgotten she was the Head girl. James stared at her maliciously and rumpled up his hair, making it even messier than it had been.

"Do you know what a comb is?" Lily said to change the subject, rolling her eyes.

James just shrugged and gave her his famous lopsided grin, the one she usually found arrogant, but which today made her blush. She frowned and took a deep breath.

"Right," she said, aware of the fact that her word was completely irrelevant.

She looked away, wondering what was happening to her. That was when James made it worse by putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay, Evans?" James said huskily, purposely using her last name. "You look a little red in the face; do you want to go outside?"

She nodded and quickly turned away. As they got out of the shop she did not notice the happy glint in James's hazel eyes.

* * *

Meanwhile, Anna and Remus were in Madam Puddifoot's, surrounded by other couples. They had had a very good lunch and were enjoying this day immensely. That was the reason why Anna felt it was the perfect moment to tell Remus about something she had kept hidden to everyone except for Lily and Venus. She wanted Remus to know, since he was the best person to understand it. 

"Remus, there's something I'd like to tell you. I don't even know why I didn't tell you before, but... did you ever wonder why I took it so well that you were," she lowered her voice, "a werewolf?"

Remus stared at her suspiciously, not liking it much.

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

She blushed slightly. "Of course, you might be disappointed by me, but the reason why I don't mind at all, and actually pity you-"

"I don't want your pity," Remus interrupted fiercely.

She took his hand and shook her head. "That's not what I meant, honey."

Remus remained silent, but his features had relaxed. He noticed that Anna was slightly moving around her cup of tea, and wondered why she was nervous.

"I know a werewolf," she said quickly.

"Who?" he asked, genuinely surprised.

"My uncle. He was bitten when I was eleven, just a few weeks before I received my letter from Hogwarts. That's how I first realized that there was something outside the Muggle world - outside my world. No need to say I would have liked to discover it another way."

"I'm sorry for you, and for your uncle," he said sincerely. "I had no idea."

He let her words sink into his mind as they remained silent. Anna was avoiding his gaze, looking embarrassed.

"But why didn't you tell me before?"

She blushed again. "I don't know, but I think it's because I thought you would be disappointed. You thought I had accepted your difference just out of generosity, and now you find out that it's because the same thing happened to my uncle and I know the terrible things that go with it-"

Remus silenced her with a kiss and smiled.

"I'm sure that, had it not been for your uncle, you would have accepted me all the same. You are the kindest person that I know, and nothing can change that."

"Thank you, Remus," she whispered, touched.

"Now you thought you could get rid of me that easily?" he joked.

She laughed, relieved that it had gone so well. Really she had been stupid to worry about it.

"It's time to meet the others," Remus said suddenly.

They had all agreed to meet in front of Honeydukes to go back to the castle together. They paid, left and slowly made their way towards Honeydukes. There, they found James and Lily waiting for them. Lily had a rather peculiar look on her face, and James was trying but failing to hide his happiness.

"Did you have a good day?" he asked.

"Very good," replied Remus, looking pointedly at him. "And you?"

"I rather enjoyed myself," James said casually. "I hope you did too, Lily."

Lily started at being addressed, as she had been lost in thoughts. She had been staring discreetly at James, and wondering how she could not have acknowledged the fact that he was very handsome. Her perpetual anger at him had prevented it, she guessed.

"Oh, yes," she said vaguely.

Lily had not a clue about what James had asked her, as she had not listened to the conversation. Anna frowned and looked at James, who shrugged.

"Where are Sirius and Venus?" Remus asked. "We need to go now."

"Coming, Moony!" said a voice behind them.

Sirius and Venus joined them, both looking satisfied with everything, praising their friends, the weather, the food they had eaten, the Butterbeer... No one had ever seen them like this.

"And what have you been doing?" asked James as they walked back towards the castle.

"We went practically everywhere," Sirius replied enthusiastically. "We bought loads of things at Zonko's. I'll show them to you in the common room."

"And Sirius showed me all the secret passages and everything," Venus answered excitedly. "I had never known there were so many. It was really great."

"She doesn't look like it, but inside she's still a little girl," Sirius said earnestly.

Venus pretended to be affronted and hit him.

"And you're the right person to say that," she said sarcastically. "You of all people, for God's sake."

"Ah, but this is why we all like our Sirius," James said gravely.

Sirius laughed. "You sound like you're making a speech for my burial."

"Since you mention it, I am sure I would be very good at this."

For the rest of the journey home, he made earnest speeches about all of them, pretending they were at burials. When they arrived and relaxed in the common room, they all agreed that they had rarely had such a good day.

* * *

After dinner, Lily directly went to the Heads' apartments, knowing that she would be alone since James would stay a while longer with their friends. She sat down on her favourite couch by the fire, and sighed. It had been a very good day, indeed, but she was not content, because she felt that all her hatred for James Potter had disappeared, and that it had been replaced by something much different. But, really, she could not be in love with James Potter, could she? The more she thought about it, the more she wondered why she should ignore her feelings. She had discovered that James was far from being a bad fellow, and that most of the time, when he did not talk about Quidditch, he was really agreeable and charming. And he liked her. But was his love for her deep, or just a teenager's infatuation? 

"Oh, what is happening to me?" she said aloud.

Her words echoed through the room. As she looked around, she saw that the door of James's bedroom was open. Suddenly she felt an odd curiosity. She felt like entering his bedroom, just to see what it was like. She had never been there and was now burning to see it for some reason. She stepped into it, unaware that she should not be doing this. Her recent discover of her feelings for James made her foolish. She looked around the room; it was rather tidy, of which she was surprised, and was full of Quidditch things. She rolled her eyes as she stared at the many posters of the Caerphilly Catapults, but smiled as she noticed a photograph of James, Sirius, Peter and Remus in their first year on James's bedside table. And she just behind it was... a Pensieve.

"I had no idea he had a Pensieve," she whispered.

Before she knew it, she was inside the Pensieve. She soon recognized where she was; it was the common room, and it was empty but for the Marauders. It looked like fifth year.

"Evans saw me hexing someone again," James was saying with dismay.

"Who was it?" Remus asked warily.

"Oh, some proud fourth year from Slytherin, you know, the really tall one. He said he could beat me any time at Quidditch."

James laughed, soon followed by Sirius and Peter. Remus did not seem amused.

"Seriously, Moony, can you believe that? So I said it was impossible because he could not even fly on a broomstick for more than one minute. This jerk got out his wand, ready to hex me, so I _had_ to hex him."

"I see, self defence," Remus said slowly.

His friends looked as if they did not quite know if Remus was being sarcastic or not.

"And did you say this to Lily?" Remus asked.

"Of course," James cried, "but she wouldn't listen to me! You know how she is."

James looked sad. Lily could not help but felt slightly sorry for him. She remembered this; at the time, she had thought James had hexed the boy just to show off in front of a group of girls. Obviously, she had been wrong. It had happened at the end of fifth year.

"And McGonagall arrived and took ten points from Gryffindor," James said. "But I don't care much about this. I'm just angry because Evans doesn't believe me."

Suddenly voices were heard and James's hand jumped up to his hair. Lily saw her younger self arrive, accompanied by Anna and Venus.

"Let's go up, girls," said the younger Lily, sounding very cold. "I cannot stand to be in the same room as someone who hexes innocent people in the corridor."

"Wait, Lily!" James called, standing up. "Please listen to me-"

"No, Potter!" the younger Lily cried. "I don't want to listen to your lies! You are stupid if you think that anyone who knows you can believe what you say. You're just an insignificant little liar, and I won't waste any more time speaking to you."

With that, she quickly went up the staircase to the girls' dormitories, followed by Anna. Venus had frozen, and was looking at James as though to apologize. Lily did not even dare to look at James. Her own words had been much too harsh.

"I'm sorry, James," Venus said.

Sirius snorted. Venus ignored him.

"Don't say she didn't mean it," James said darkly. "Because we all know she meant every word of it."

The five of them remained silent for a moment. Nobody knew what to say to cheer James up. Lily felt terrible; she was guilty for that heartbroken look on James's face.

"You can go up to bed, I don't mind at all," he said after a while. "I know you're all tired."

"You're right, we are," Sirius said, yawning.

Remus, Peter and he said good night and made their way towards their dormitories.

"Vance, why are you staying?" said Sirius.

He had let Remus and Peter climb up the stairs when he had seen that Venus was still with James.

"None of your business, Black," she snapped.

Sirius crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her.

"I will not move until you have left the room. Leave James alone."

Venus laughed and raised her eyebrows. "And what do you think I would do to him?"

Sirius sighed and looked as though he could not find a suitable answer; he shrugged and walked away, which left only Venus and James. Venus quietly sat down next to James and for a while, both of them just stared at the fire in silence.

"You're one of the only persons who can make Sirius shut up, you know."

Venus smiled. "I'm glad I am. I wonder how you can be friends with him, without offending you. He's so..."

Venus seemed unable to describe Sirius properly. No word was hard enough to describe how annoying he was to her. Lily smiled slightly, thinking that she would not find him so annoying in the future.

"If there is anything I can do?" said Venus gently.

James turned to her, his expression unreadable. Slowly, his face got closer to Venus's, much too close -

"No!" Lily cried.

They kissed very briefly, for Venus pulled away almost immediately. Lily could not believe what she saw; her thoughts at that moment felt much like jealousy.

"James, this is not right," Venus said.

He stood up, turning away from her. Lily could not breathe.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. "I don't know what has taken over me, you know. I feel lost and desperate."

"It's alright, James. I think I understand."

"Really?" he said, surprised, turning to face her.

She nodded, smiled and got up to kiss him on the cheek.

"You and I will never be anything other than friends. And you know what? I am sure that some day, you and Lily will get together. But this day may not come soon."

She hugged him. Next minute, Lily was again in James's room, back to reality. She could not believe what she had just witnessed. James had kissed Venus and she had never told Lily? How was this possible? Her reason told her that this kiss obviously didn't mean anything, but at that moment, her reason was overpowered by her feelings. And what she felt was a strange and explosive mixture of disbelief, jealousy and incomprehension.

"What are you doing here?"

Lily jumped. She had not heard James come in. It took her a while before she could answer, for her mind had gone completely blank suddenly.

"I know you kissed Venus," she said coldly. "And she never told me."

James frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Lily angrily pointed at the Pensieve.

"I'm talking about this, Potter! Don't you remember, in fifth year?"

But James didn't seem to make an effort to remember it. He suddenly turned very red.

"You used my Pensieve!" he shouted. "You invaded my privacy, my memories! How could you do such a thing?"

He looked so furious that it frightened her. Only then did she realize what she had done; she did not have the right to go into James's room when he wasn't there, and use his Pensieve.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I had not realized I had done something bad-"

"Get out of here!" James interrupted, his eyes flashing with anger.

She left the room without looking at him, and he closed the door behind her. She stared at it as her eyes filled with tears. What had taken over her? What had she done? Had she ruined every chance of dating James, just when she was starting to like him?

* * *

_Author's Note: Oh, I know you guys are going to hate me! lol. But do not worry, it won't be long till they are together... since there are only 2 chapters left in the story! You're going to like the next chapter: much more J/L. I hope I'll be able to update soon. Please review this, thanks!_


	20. November Rain

20

November Rain

The morning that followed this tremendous evening was the least cheerful the Gryffindors had known for a long time. The news soon reached everyone: James Potter would not talk to Lily Evans. However, no one, except Lily and James's close friends, knew the reason why he was sulking. Usually, James would try to sit near Lily, but this time he had got up very early and had sat, on his own, at the far end of the Gryffindor table. When Lily arrived, she did not look at him, and he did not look at her either. She sat as far away from him as possible.

"What's wrong, Lily?" Anna asked with concern. "James looks devastated, and so do you."

"It's my fault," Lily said sheepishly, not looking up at them. "I made a mistake."

And she told them all about her going into James's room and using his Pensieve, only avoiding to talk about her newly discovered feelings for James.

"He kissed you and you never told me!" Lily hissed.

She could not help it. Even if she felt guilty for having betrayed James's trust, she still could not believe that he had kissed her best friend and that she had never known anything about it.

"Did you know it, Anna?"

Anna nodded sheepishly. Lily's face reddened.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she finally cried.

Everybody in their surroundings stopped talking and turned to her.

"Go back to your talking," she snapped.

And they all did, but what they talked of was the reason why Lily Evans was so cross.

"Judging by your reaction," Venus said calmly, "no wonder why I never told you. I knew you would take it badly, although it is nothing, really. James was feeling desperate and he was kissing me before he even realized what he was doing. I know that he did not really want to kiss me, it just happened."

"It just happened," Lily repeated scornfully, "yeah, right."

"Look, if you don't believe me, I don't care," Venus said fiercely. "It's just a pity, because this is all your fault."

With that, she stood up and made her way towards where the Marauders were sitting, aware that everybody was watching her. She sat down next to Sirius and kissed him hard on the lips, something she rarely did in front of the whole Great Hall. Sirius looked taken aback, but not unhappy.

"May I inquire about this sudden display of affection?" he asked solemnly, raising his eyebrows.

"I am angry," was Venus's only answer.

Sirius turned to James as though he could account for his girlfriend's strange behaviour. But James had not said a single word yet.

"Come on, Prongs," he said, "won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"We really want to know," Remus added sincerely.

James barely looked at them and shrugged before staring down at his plate again.

"I will tell you what's wrong," Venus said.

Since James did not seem to mind, she told them. Remus looked very surprised. Sirius was looking from Venus to James, unable to contain his anger.

"You _kissed_ her?" he nearly shouted.

Venus looked at James and rolled her eyes. James seemed tired of it all and wished he had never kissed Venus.

"Why was I never informed of this?" Sirius asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I never told you because it meant nothing," James replied wearily.

"That's right," Venus nodded.

Sirius was still staring at them blankly and shaking his head. He could not believe it.

"Besides, you hated her at the time," James pointed out. "That was none of your business."

Sirius opened his mouth as though to answer, but found that he had none. He could not contradict what James had just said. Instead, he continued to pout his lips childishly.

"Still, you and her," Sirius said, frowning. "This is... weird. And I am not talking to you anymore, James. You should not have kissed her, that's all."

James rolled his eyes. "Really, Sirius, I don't think you're the right person to give me a lecture about which girl I should or should not kiss."

"Well, rule one, do _not_ kiss _my_ girlfriend!" Sirius hissed, and then turned towards Venus. "And you, do not let my best friend kiss you!"

With one last glare he stood up and walked out of the Great Hall with his head held high. They remained silent for a moment, each of them knowing Sirius was only making a show out of it and that everything would be back to normal half an hour later.

"This is not like Lily," Remus observed after a while, back to the real problem.

"I didn't think she'd do that," James agreed bitterly.

"Maybe she really wanted to know what was in your mind, because she cares about your feelings," Peter said cautiously, as though fearing that they would laugh at him.

His friends turned to him in surprise, and this time, even James looked up.

"Peter, that's great!" Venus exclaimed. "I declare that you are the genius of the day!"

Venus nodded at Peter enthusiastically, and Peter looked very satisfied with himself.

"That's possible," Remus reflected. "Yes, this is probably what happened. She's starting to care for you. She had a good day with you in Hogsmeade, she sees your room is open, and she is very curious to see what it looks like, so she goes in-"

"And decides she has the right to visit my memories," James interrupted bitterly. "How logical."

"This is not logical, James," Remus said mildly. "Love's not logical."

James froze. "You mean, you believe she might be in love with me?"

"She most likely is," Venus declared. "We girls sometimes do stupid things when we're in love."

"Ah, yes? Like what?" James asked, interested.

"Nothing I would ever tell you about," Venus replied, laughing.

James looked better, but he still could not believe that Lily could be in love with him at last.

"I still don't understand," he shook his head. "Why would she do such a thing?"

"I'm not sure about what went across Lily's mind," Venus admitted. "But I repeat that people do senseless things when they're in love. Didn't you ask her out a million times even if she always said no? Didn't you make a fool of yourself whenever she was around?"

James seemed to consider it for a moment. After a while, he smiled. Hope was filling his heart again.

"You're right! That must be it!" he cried enthusiastically.

But his enthusiasm soon faded: he would not forgive her that easily. If she really loved him, she would see what it was like to be rejected. Although James felt he could not leave her alone for long. And after this, they would be together at last, if all went well.

* * *

One week passed. Lily could not find the courage to speak to James and needed time to put her feelings into some kind of order, and James was too proud to forgive Lily so easily. Their friends were rather sad about it but thought that eventually they would make it up, and that it was better not to interfere. Lily had soon talked to Venus again, after having realized that there was no reason for being jealous of her. That was what Venus was thinking of at half past five on a gloomy Sunday afternoon. She was unfortunately alone in the dormitories with Victoria Bell. Ever since Venus had been dating Sirius, Victoria would not talk to her, which was a very good thing. That was the reason why, as Venus looked at her reflection in the mirror and said to herself she would have to leave in two minutes for Quidditch practise, she was started by Victoria's high-pitched voice. 

"So, tell me, how do you find him in bed?" Victoria asked.

The stupid girl giggled. Venus said to herself that she definitely did _not_ know what the other girl was talking about.

"What do you mean?" she asked slowly.

Victoria walked towards her and stared at her as if she was stupid, which was kind of unbearable to Venus. Presently she wanted to rip off the girl's eyes.

"I'm asking you if you'd agree with me and say that Sirius Black is a total sex god," Victoria said, smirking.

Venus felt and saw her face redden. She certainly did not like the turn the conversation was taking.

"I don't know about that," she replied, trying but failing to sound as if she didn't care.

"I see. You mean you never got the occasion to try him," Victoria said nastily. "Now that's a shame. _I_ slept with him _twice_."

Venus felt herself becoming angrier with every second that passed, and had to restrain herself from hitting the girl.

"That's none of your business," Venus snapped. "And don't flatter yourself by supposing that Sirius still thinks about you, because he does not."

At least, Venus hoped he did not. Suddenly she was sure of nothing.

"Really, I don't understand why Sirius Black doesn't even do it with his own girlfriend," Victoria said snidely.

That was too much for Venus. She rashly pushed Victoria out of the way and stormed out of the dormitories. Her mind remained horribly and uncommonly blank until she reached the Quidditch pitch, where the rest of the team was waiting for her. As soon as she saw Sirius her anger came back, and with it, what Victoria had said.

"Hey, Venus," Sirius greeted her warmly. "We were waiting-"

"Don't talk to me, you bloody girl-magnet," Venus spat, saying the first thing that came to her mind. "Go and get laid with Victoria Bell, that's much more fun. Or with half the girls in sodding Hogwarts, I don't give a damn!"

The others didn't have time to react as she practically ran towards the changing rooms. Sirius looked shocked, having never heard Venus swear so much in one sentence.

"What have I done again?" Sirius wondered out loud, annoyed. "I'll go and ask her at once."

"You shouldn't do that," Maia Brandy advised him. "Let her come back, maybe her anger will have faded away."

That was knowing Venus badly, because when she came back, she looked almost equally furious.

"What's wrong with you?" Sirius asked.

He tried to pull her towards him. Unwise move.

"Don't you even touch me, Black!" she warned, snapping his hand away. "You pervert."

Sirius had frozen and was staring at her with disappointment.

"It's been a long time since you called me Black, and said I was a pervert," he remarked. "I thought we had gotten over this."

"I thought you had changed, but I was wrong," Venus said coldly.

Then she turned around and talked to James, ignoring him. Sirius sighed and got on his broom, flying away rather gloomily.

* * *

After one hour of a really tense Quidditch practise, the players were not unhappy to go back to the castle. However, just as they left the pitch, it started to rain. 

"Oh, great," Venus said sarcastically.

She took the rain as an excuse to run towards the castle without waiting for the others. James was walking behind them all when, about half the way to the castle, he bumped into no other than Lily Evans. He was very surprised to see her there.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you in private," Lily replied. "I had no idea it was going to rain."

Indeed, just as she spoke, it rained even harder. If they didn't run to the castle now, they would really be soaking wet.

"We need to go back now!" James said firmly.

He grabbed Lily's arm and they ran towards the castle.

"Wait," Lily said, panting, when they were just a few feet away from the oak door. "I need to tell you that I'm really, really sorry. I should not have done that."

James turned to her and smiled gently, knowing that it was time to relieve her suffering. If she felt guilty, then she cared for him and that was definitely a very good thing.

"I forgive you," he said.

She smiled back at him, happily surprised and relieved. He watched as a drop of rain fell down her forehead, not caring that he was drenched too. That was when Lily stepped towards him like in his dreams, and kissed him. Just as their lips touched, a storm broke out and the rain was now threatening to drown them, but they didn't care as they kept on kissing passionately. After a while he broke the kiss and just held her tight, swinging back and forth gently as though he was trying to make a little child sleep. He noticed that she was shivering.

"You're cold. We must get back now," he managed to say.

She nodded, still overwhelmed by the intensity of their embrace, and they ran into the castle. Only then did they stop to breathe.

"I think we need to change clothes," James remarked, looking at them both.

Lily nodded again and followed him without a word to their rooms. James was rather worried that she had not said a word since they had kissed and wondered if that was a good sign. As far as he was concerned, he had never even dreamt of kissing like this. It was beyond everything he had ever imagined. That was the only thought he had in his mind as he changed into dry clothes. He had at last kissed Lily Evans! He had achieved the goal of his life! Therefore, unsurprisingly, when James walked out of his room he bore a broad smile on his face, which faded as soon as he saw that Lily was not there.

"Lily?" he called, frowning.

Please tell me this wasn't a dream, he thought with despair.

"I'm in my bedroom, James."

Her voice still sounded strange. James stepped warily towards her door to hear her better.

"Are you coming out?" he asked. "It's dinner time."

"Oh," said Lily, as though she had totally forgotten what time or day it was. "I'm not hungry."

Now James was really worrying. Had she found the kiss that bad? Was it possible?

"I'm still cold," Lily kept on. "I think I might be ill. I'll stay in bed tonight."

"I'm sorry," James said, though it was irrelevant. "Well, I hope you'll be fine."

"Thank you, James."

He sighed but smiled at the same time, reflecting the contradictive feelings he was experiencing. He was whistling happily as he made his way towards the Great Hall. He could not wait to tell his fellow Marauders.

* * *

"You kissed her?" Sirius exclaimed with disbelief. 

James nodded. His exceedingly wide smile rather frightened Sirius.

"That's great, Prongs!" Remus said, smiling. "I'm glad for you."

James looked at Sirius with his eyebrows raised, expecting the same words.

"Thanks for looking so flabbergasted," James said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I am surprised. And quite relieved. After three years of permanent stalking-"

"I did_not_ stalk Lily!" James interrupted, revolted.

"You kiss her at last," Sirius kept on, ignoring James's interruption. "I just find it rather hard to believe, because I feel like my life's not worth living anymore if I can't help you to make Lily kiss you!"

Sirius sniggered. Remus rolled his eyes and gave James a 'don't mind him' look.

"You're being stupid, Sirius," Remus said.

"For a change," James added, still smiling.

"Nothing can bring you down, I see?" Sirius said, noticing James was still looking extremely joyful. "Seriously, I wish you every good thing in the world, Prongsie. I'm glad you're with Evans at last."

"Ah, thank you, Padfoot. Though even if you didn't give me your blessing I'd still date Lily."

Sirius looked highly affronted.

"And what do you make of our friendship? Of our... Maraudership?"

"Sirius, this word doesn't exist," Remus said, amused.

"Don't distract me, Moony!" Sirius said dramatically. "I need to hear an answer from James!"

Said James rolled his eyes. "Our 'friendship' was in danger just one week ago because over a year ago I gave Venus a kiss which was really... _unmeaningful_."

"James, this word doesn't exist," Remus said, this time tiredly.

"Still, you did kiss my girlfriend," Sirius retorted, pouting. "But back to the point. You'd choose Lily over me?"

James couldn't help but laughed.

"You don't know what it's like to kiss Lily," he said, his eyes dancing at the memory.

"Well if that is the base of your choice, you don't know what it's like to kiss _me_," Sirius joked, his face earnest.

The three other Marauders nearly choked on their food.

"Christ, Sirius, we're eating!" James complained.

Said Sirius looked highly amused.

"My humour would certainly win over any girl's kissing abilities," Sirius declared with arrogance.

"Shut up, Sirius," James and Remus said as one.

* * *

On the next day, as she had expected, Lily woke up with a cold. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she sneezed. She was feeling very ill. Blame it on the rain, she said to herself. She would have to spend the day in the hospital wing and miss classes, something she did not enjoy much. But in this case it was necessary. She waited until eight o'clock, to make sure James would be gone, and headed towards the hospital wing, sneezing all the way. After much feeding and medicine-giving by Madam Pomfrey and an afternoon nap, Lily felt better. She rejoiced at the thought that her friends would all visit her after the end of the classes; therefore she was slightly disappointed when she saw that only Remus and Anna had come. 

"Hello, Lily," Anna said kindly as they sat down next to her bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, but Madam Pomfrey says I'd better stay for the night as well. I don't think it's necessary, but-"

Lily trailed off and shrugged. She didn't mind much staying there, but she was rather bored.

"You're probably wondering why _the others_ aren't with us, right?" Remus said, his eyes twinkling.

Lily blushed. "You know me too well. Well I'm quite disappointed! Where are they all?"

"Quidditch practise," Anna replied. "James said he was absolutely sorry he couldn't make it but he said this Quidditch practise was very important indeed, and that he would come and visit you as soon as it was over."

"And he gave us these for you," Remus said.

He smiled as he handed Lily several rolls of parchment. As she looked at them Lily realized it was probably all that they had done in class that day.

"I wanted to take notes for you as usual," Anna added, grinning too. "But James insisted."

Lily's face broke into a smile as she contemplated the boyish handwriting. Somehow she found she had never seen anything so cute. Anna and Remus soon noticed her eyes were watering.

"What's wrong, Lily?" Anna asked with concern.

"Nothing," Lily answered, her voice quavering slightly. "It's just so cute. He made this all just for me."

She looked peculiar as she had tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.

"He doesn't take notes usually, does he?" she asked Remus for confirmation.

"No, he doesn't," Remus said truthfully. "He made a point to 'write well', I quote, just for you."

Lily glanced down at the parchments again, and this time a tear rolled down her cheek as she read.

_November, 7th 1977_

_The Statio spell_

_This spell is used to prevent somebody's wand to work for twenty-four hours._

Followed several lines of explications, but Lily didn't quite have the heart to read it at the moment.

"I'd never have thought James would do that," she said quietly. "This is really nice of him."

They remained silent for a moment, each of them thinking about James's devotion to Lily.

"By the way, did Sirius and Venus make it up?" Lily asked.

"Not yet," Remus snorted. "But you know them. Tomorrow they'll be snogging each other all over again."

"Venus wouldn't like you to say that," Anna remarked with a smile. "She's proud enough to think their argument will last at least as long as James and Lily's."

"Ah, I'm afraid no one can beat James and me on that field," Lily said with a half-smile.

* * *

About two hours later, she was able to thank James in person. When he walked in, she was reading a book, and until she heard him clear his throat she was unaware of his presence. 

"Oh, hello," Lily said with a smile.

She closed her book rather nervously as James took a seat next to her bed.

"Pride and Prejudice," he said, reading the title aloud. "Has Mr Darcy already proposed to Elizabeth? Or are you still in the first half of the book?"

She goggled at him. James Potter had read a Muggle book? Her favourite Muggle book? She'd have thought he'd make fun of such a romantic story.

"You've read this book?" she exclaimed, surprised.

"Yes, I did," James replied quietly, looking away from her. "Last year, when I learnt it was your favourite book."

Lily gaped at his kindness and felt the tears-and-smile thing coming back.

"Oh, James," she whispered. "You are so cute."

Not wanting to ruin the moment by any stupid talk in which he excelled, James happily let her hug him. When she pulled back, she smiled at him fondly. That was how James had always wanted her to look at him; any trace of annoyance or anger was gone.

"So, I wanted to ask you how you were, but obviously you're rather fine," James said, smirking.

She rested back on her pillow and blushed.

"I wanted to thank you for taking notes for me. This was very nice of you."

"You're welcome," James said, looking at her in the eye. "I'm glad I could help you. Just ask me if you don't understand something."

By the mischievous glint in his eyes, she knew he was just kidding. He couldn't help but laughed at the look on her face.

"James Potter, don't make me hit you," she said, pointing a threatening finger at him.

But this didn't turn out to be very intimidating, because she could not stop smiling. Just then, Madam Pomfrey suddenly arrived and made James nearly jump out of his chair as he had not heard her coming.

"Come on, Mr Potter, it's time to leave now," she said.

James sighed and looked apogectically at Lily, who shrugged as though to tell him it was alright.

"Goodnight, Lily," he said. "I hope to see you tomorrow morning."

"You will," Lily promised. "Goodnight, James."

He smiled one last time and she watched as he walked out of the room. Lily was suddenly aware that, a few minutes after his departure, she was still smiling.


	21. Siriusly Drunk

**¤ author's note ¤ **Probably my favourite chapter. Hope you enjoy drunk Sirius too:D

* * *

21

Siriusly Drunk

On the next day, Venus felt she could not stand it anymore and realized that she had been silly and had sulked for no reason. As she made her way towards where the Marauders were having breakfast, she was very aware that a lot of people were staring at her.

"Hello, Sirius," she said quietly. "Can I sit next to you?"

He had his back turned to her; therefore she could not see his face. She tried not to sigh when she received no response and sat down next to Sirius.

"I'm sorry," she whispered in his ear. "I've been so stupid, please forgive me."

She blushed slightly as she realized that most people in their surroundings were trying to hear what she was saying and pretending they were not. It was already difficult for her to swallow her pride and admit to Sirius she had been unfair to him; she really didn't need everyone's attention.

"Why on earth did you get angry in the first place?" Sirius whispered back. "I don't remember doing something wrong."

"This is kind of, er, private," she replied, looking around. "I'll tell you later, just say you forgive me? Please?"

Of course, Venus did not like pleading. And just as expectedly, Sirius liked being pleaded.

"Forgive you when I still don't know why I should?" Sirius said, smiling slightly. "I don't think so."

Venus surrendered. "I guess you're right," she admitted. "I'll wait for you outside so we can talk alone, then."

About five minutes later, Sirius came back from the Great Hall. It took them a few minutes to find an empty corridor.

"You can never be alone in this bloody castle," Venus muttered.

She leaned against the wall and accidentally hit the portrait of a small, bearded man, who cried as though she had hurt him to death. Venus winced and quite reluctantly stepped closer to

Sirius. He looked slightly embarrassed, as though not knowing what to say. As she didn't either, it resulted in a quite peculiar silence, since they had gone there to _talk_.

"So," he finally said, "why were you angry?"

"Well, Victoria Bell told me she had slept with you twice and I just - felt jealous, I suppose. It's just the way she said this and looked at me scornfully."

She was looking down at her feet, nervously running her hand through her hair, her eyes darkening at the mention of the girl she despised.

"But you already knew that, right?" Sirius said. "I mean, everybody, in our year at least, must know it. I expect she even told Dumbledore."

She smiled at his attempt to lighten up the mood, and finally looked up at him.

"Yes, I knew it, but now I care," she said simply. "That's the difference."

He smirked and she rolled her eyes.

"How I wished I never said that... don't get too conceited, though. Oh wait, you already are."

But Sirius's smile just broadened and he shook his head. As he said nothing, she took a deep breath and asked the question she had been meaning to ask since the day before.

"How many girls did you make love with?" she asked, faking a detached tone.

"Six, including Victoria."

She sighed of relief, having expected a little bit more. Still, she felt like "The Seventh" was now written on her forehead.

"And none since we're going out," Sirius quickly added.

Venus assumed the look on her face must be quite disturbing, and composed an expression of attention.

"You'd better," she said earnestly.

"And none was quite as wonderful as you," Sirius said with a charming smile.

Venus rolled her eyes and pretended that she wasn't affected by his charm, but she grinned back at him and let him kiss her cheek. As she looked into his eyes she realized that she had forgotten all about her previous anger or embarrassment.

"Sirius Black, how do you manage to get away with everything?"

* * *

_My first day as Lily Evan's boyfriend_. That was James's first thought as he had waken up that morning, and he had a feeling his pride and happiness would last longer than one day. This sentence seemed to be written on everyone's face and on every wall in Hogwarts. All day long, he could hardly listen to the teachers because he was too busy staring at Lily or thinking about her. Not that it was a change compared to the past two years, but only that day could he say to himself that he was her boyfriend. Well, they had not gone on a proper date yet, but did that really matter? 

"James, are you listening to me?" Lily said, biting her lip in annoyance.

James came back to reality with a start. He was currently sitting on his favourite couch in the living-room of the Heads' Tower, with Lily next to him, holding a notebook and a quill.

"I'm sorry, Lily," he said. "I'm so happy that I can barely concentrate on anything."

He gave her the famous lop-sided grin of his and she struggled to keep a business-like expression. They really needed to get some things done for the Ball, which was to take place on December, 23rd, one month later.

"I'm trying to make a list here," she said, as though there had been no interruption, "of the things we have to do and who will do them. First, we need to find a band."

"My dad's friends with a good band, The Drunk Wizards."

Lily raised her eyebrows disapprovingly at the name.

"Don't worry," James laughed at the look on her face. "They rock, but won't cause any trouble. I'll send them a letter to ask them if they can make it."

"Right," Lily said slowly.

She made a note, her face slightly red.

"I thought I could do the decoration, if that's alright with you?"

"But what do I get to do, then?" James frowned.

He looked childishly disappointed; it was Lily's turn to laugh.

"You can handle everything else: the music, the food... see with Dumbledore for that."

James nodded and his eyes slowly moved from Lily to the clock. Quidditch practise was starting in fifteen minutes; he should get going soon. Lily followed his gaze and then turned back to him. He started to kiss her and for a few minutes both forgot they had ever thought of James's leaving for Quidditch practise.

"You're going to be late," she said, her eyebrows raised. "You don't want to be late for Quidditch practise, do you?"

"You're right. You're always are."

Somehow this sounded very good to Lily. She could not resist and gave him another kiss, which was meant to be quick but was prolonged by James.

"Now you are late," she said, smiling slightly.

"Oh, they can wait for five minutes, can't they?" James whispered in her ear.

Somehow this sounded even better, fully aware as she was of what Quidditch represented in James's life.

"I'd never thought you'd be willingly late for a Quidditch practise, Mr Best-Player-in-Hogwarts Potter."

"And I'd never thought I could find a more agreeable way to pass the time. I wouldn't wish to be anywhere else now, Lily."

She smiled back at him and blushed. If one year ago, someone had said to Lily that one day, James Potter would say such a thing to her and mean it, she wouldn't have believed them. She had been blinded by prejudice, but now she could see the real James, and she was very much in love with him.

"Now this is not good. If you don't leave at once, I'm dragging you out," she warned.

He looked at her, frowning, as though to find whether she was kidding him or not. He thought that she probably wasn't.

"Ah, I'd like to see that!" he laughed.

"James Potter, do not tempt me!" she said, pointing at him threateningly.

He shook his head, still laughing, and finally left the room.

* * *

Just after the classes were over, Venus went outside for a walk on her own. It was rather unlike her to do such a thing, especially when it was cold, but she just felt like self-pitying because her boyfriend had 'known' many more girls before her, and she wished he had not. Again, it was rather unlike her to indulge to self-pity, she reflected as she reached the lake. She sat down and looked at it for what seemed like ages, grateful no one was around. She got cold and decided to head back towards the castle. She was half-way through it, and lost in thoughts, when something jumped on her and pushed her to the ground. She shrieked and then realized that it was a large black dog not unknown to her. 

"Sirius!" she exclaimed, surprised. "Er, can you transform? I feel uncomfortable talking to a dog."

But Sirius merely barked in answer and started jumping around cheerfully.

"I am not talking to you if you don't transform this second," she warned.

She looked around to make sure no one would see them, and when she gazed back at him he had transformed. She noticed that he looked dishevelled and dizzy. Very dizzy indeed.

"Sirius, have you been drinking?" she asked warily.

"Wh-what? Me?" Sirius giggled. "Oh no, no. I just found a bottle of Firewhisky that I had hidden under my bed after when went to Hogsmeade. I had forgotten all about it!"

His eyes could barely focus on her. She rolled her eyes.

"So you drank it?" she said, stating the obvious. "The whole bottle?"

She sounded worried now. Sirius was smiling and leaning against her.

"No, I let Wormtail had some. I would have kept some for you, but-"

He shrugged and laughed. Venus didn't know whether to laugh or to be worried.

"Great. My boyfriend is a dog _and _an alcoholic. Lucky me," she said sarcastically.

"I am not an alcoholic!" Sirius protested. "I'm just very drunk!"

"Yes, I can see that, you idiot," she said rather lovingly.

For a short while there was no sound at all. Venus knew his silence was unusual and would be of short duration. She had never dealt with a drunk Sirius Black and didn't know what was going to happen next.

"Come on," Sirius said suddenly, looking at her eagerly. "Let's do something!"

The look on his face clearly showed what he wanted to do with her, but at that moment the longing looks he cast her only frightened her.

"Do what? Oh wait, I don't want to know that. Let's go back to the castle."

Sirius looked comically disappointed as she stood up. She glanced down at him, trying to think fast.

"Can you walk?"

Sirius stared back at her blankly for a few seconds and then roared with laughter. Venus shook her head but could not help but smiled.

"Alright, let's just see if you can, then."

She held out her hand for him and had to drag him up as he would not stand up on his own. Venus soon realized he would definitely not be able to walk back to the castle on his own.

"Right, right," she muttered to herself. "Do I have to _carry_ Sirius Black? Oh Merlin, help me."

She sighed and put Sirius's arm around her shoulder. He, of course, took this as an invitation and kissed her, but she gently pulled away. They made their way towards the castle, very slowly and awkwardly.

"I even wonder how you managed to get there," Venus said. "I guess it's easier as a dog... must remember to ask you about it when you're sober. Now I really have to fetch someone to help me. You're so heavy!"

"Am not heavy!" Sirius protested.

He suddenly struggled to get his arm away from her firm grip, which resulted in both of them falling over, he on top of her. He looked down at her with a broad smile on his face and Venus had a feeling this would last slightly longer than necessary. Suddenly, something she couldn't quite see took Sirius's attention away from her.

"HELLO!" he shouted, waving and grinning like a mad man.

Venus winced. Whoever it was, this was definitely not good. Why did someone have to see them in this embarrassing position? As she finally saw who it was, she gaped; she was so unfortunate as to have the whole Quidditch team of Ravenclaw staring at them. At once, taking advantage of the fact that Sirius was still turned towards them, she roughly pushed him away and stood up, trying to look as if she was not living the most embarrassing situation of her life.

"It's not what you think," she said, breaking the silence. "We were just..."

"Making out?" Jack Bonham, the team's Captain, helped her.

"No," Venus answered automatically, then looked at Sirius and realized she could not convince them. "Actually, yes."

"That's your right," Jack shrugged. "I only assume you could find a more comfortable place for this kind of business."

The whole team laughed and left. Venus was sure her face was as red as a tomato. At least.

"Good for our reputation," Venus said sarcastically. "Come on, Sirius. Please be nice and stand up."

Indeed, Sirius seemed to find the grass very interesting. He was lying on his stomach and studying intently the lawn. Venus tried not to laugh at the ridiculous sight and once again helped him up. After long minutes they finally made it to the castle. That was when it dawned on her that she still had to go up to the common room. And that was when it dawned on her that she could just use a spell. Pointing her wand at Sirius, she said: "_Wingardium Leviosa_!". Sirius was now floating a few inches above the ground.

"I'm flying!" he cried exastically. "Look, I'm flying!"

After one minute of Sirius's taking himself for a bird, Venus resorted to another spell to silence him. She quickly made her way towards the Gryffindor common room, trying to ignore the pupils' surprised or amused stares. She hurriedly said the password to the Fat Lady, who frowned at them, and stepped into the common room. She removed the spells from Sirius because a group of third years was eyeing them strangely, and because she had spotted Remus sitting in a corner alone, reading.

"Remus!" she called loudly, waving rather frantically with one arm, and supporting Sirius with the other.

Remus looked up and as soon as he saw them he understood the situation. Without a word, he and Venus helped Sirius up the stairs towards the seventh years' dormitories.

"Hello, Moony!" Sirius said cheerfully after two minutes, as though he had not recognized his friend before. "What's up?"

"Nothing, Padfoot," Remus replied mildly, though panting from the effort. "Have you been eating too much lately? You are hea-"

"I am NOT heavy!" Sirius interrupted, pouting. "Why does everyone keep saying that? My weight is perfect."

The other two didn't feel they needed to retort anything, moreover they had finally and painfully made it to the dormitories. They gently pushed Sirius on his bed and sat down on Remus's bed, facing Sirius. Venus sighed of relief; there had not been much damage after all. She told Remus about their unfortunate encounter with the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, and the story, which at first had amused Sirius, seemed to bore him after a while.

"I want chocolate," Sirius whined.

He sounded like a four-year-old. Venus looked at Remus with her eyebrows raised and he nodded.

"Typical," he said quietly, with a smile.

"I had no idea how much you had to go through," she said to Remus, smiling too. "He's kind of embarrassing when he's drunk."

"The worst is when you have to deal with _two_ of them," Remus sighed. "Having both Sirius _and_ James drunk is hard to handle, believe me."

She smiled at him sympathetically and then looked at Sirius. He was lying on his bed and throwing his fists in the air, as though he was fighting an invisible man. She laughed and went to sit on the edge of Sirius's bed.

"Now what do we do of him?" she asked Remus, her tone business-like.

"It would be great if he would just fall asleep," Remus said hopefully. "Don't you feel tired, Sirius?"

"Don't you feel tired?" Sirius repeated, frowning, as if trying to understand the question.

"You might understand if I use the affirmative voice," Remus rolled his eyes. "Do you feel tired?"

No answer came; Remus gave up. He and Venus looked resigned to their fate: looking after Sirius Black until he was so kind as to fall asleep. The thing was, Sirius would not remain silent, and demanded to be entertained. Venus had to voice, at Sirius's request, all the reasons why she thought that "Sirius Black was the best man in the world". After almost an hour of this, and of Sirius whispering dirty things in Venus's ear and giggling like a first year, the three of them were equally annoyed and bored.

"Padfoot, if you don't fall asleep right now, I'm taking a book out," Remus threatened.

"No, please, not the book!" Sirius cried, with a horrified look on his face.

But he couldn't get to sleep either, therefore Remus, with a contented smile, took a book from his bag and started to read. It was a book he had borrowed from the library a few days before, about the lives of French wizards during the eighteenth century, something which obviously neither Sirius nor Venus was interested in. After twenty minutes of monotonous reading, Remus stood up to check if Sirius was asleep; he indeed was. But to his surprise, he saw that Sirius wasn't the only one who had fallen asleep: Venus was lying next to Sirius, slumbering peacefully. He smiled as he thought that they made quite the couple. He checked his watch; it was barely nine in the evening. _Is my book that boring?_ he said to himself. He looked down at his friends with affection and thought that they looked unusually innocent.

"Good night," he whispered.

Sirius started to snore.

"And good luck," Remus said, looking at Venus and chuckling.

* * *

When she woke up on the next day, Venus found herself lying in Sirius Black's arms, wearing only her underwear. Her head ached slightly and it took her one minute to figure out where she was and why she was there. A short while later, all the memories of the previous night came back to her and she sighed. That had been a tiring night, with Sirius's occasional snoring and his getting sick all over her clothes; she had not been able to sleep very well. As she stirred she heard the boys getting up and she looked at Sirius, who slept in a peculiar position. 

"Sirius," she said. "Wake up."

He did not move. She sat up and repeated it, louder.

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP, FOR MERLIN'S SAKE!"

She was quite sure she had woken up half of Hogwarts by now. But Sirius barely moved. Venus sighed and called out Remus's name.

"Remus! How can you wake him up?"

"There's a girl in here?" said a voice.

It was Edward Johnson. Venus cursed under her breath and called Remus again.

"Yes, yes, coming!" he replied.

He drew the curtains of Sirius's bed open, blushing as soon as he caught sight of Venus's near-nakedness.

"I had no idea-" he started, embarrassed.

"It's not what you think," Venus sighed. "Nothing happened here. Except that throwing up was involved, but you don't want to hear the details."

Remus looked sceptical. "So you haven't _done_ anything?"

How could she convince everyone that all Sirius had _done_ to her was getting sick on her best robes! Remus seemed to realize that it was none of his business and said he was sorry he had asked.

"Anyway, I'm trying to wake up Sirius, but it seems impossible."

"Ah, welcome to my life. Every morning, it's the same fight between me and Sirius's deep slumber. Lately, I resorted to this."

He reached out and pulled a lock of Sirius's hair.

"AAAH! My hair!" Sirius complained, opening his eyes painfully.

"At last," Venus said. "Good morning, Sirius Black and thank you for this wonderful night."

Sirius, amazed, stared at her, not catching the sarcasm in her voice as he had a hangover and was not fully awake yet. Remus tactfully left them alone, closing the curtains again. Only then did Venus realize that she was nearly naked and that Sirius was expectedly checking her out.

"Why are you here?" Sirius asked, frowning.

He looked around as if it would give him an answer.

"You don't remember anything, do you?" Venus said.

"No," he replied truthfully. "Anything I should remember?"

"Nothing that your dirty mind is imagining at the moment. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I took off my clothes because you got sick on them in the middle of the night."

Sirius looked sorry that he had asked. He put his face into his face and took a deep breath, as though the pain in his head would disappear thus.

"How romantic," he said sarcastically.

"I know. So obviously I need clothes to go out of here. I thought you could lend me yours."

"Sure, just let me one minute. My head kind of aches, you know."

"How surprising," Venus muttered. "But I'd like to leave now, if you don't mind. The situation is rather... embarrassing."

"I don't agree with you," Sirius said with a dizzy smile.

"And stop checking me out, it's unnerving. I remind you, you got sick on me! And you snore!"

Sirius groaned but finally agreed to get out of his bed.

"You're no fun in the morning, Venusta," he remarked playfully.

Venus decided not to answer and waited as Sirius rummaged through his open trunk. Venus wondered how he could still be keeping his clothes in his trunk while they had been at Hogwarts for three months. After what seemed like ages to her, Sirius handed her a white shirt and black trousers.

"That will do," she said. "I just need to run down to the common room and then up to my dormitories and change into my clothes."

She put on Sirius's shirt and smiled at the sweet but manly smell it had. Then she put on the trousers, and finally got out of the bed, parading around the room and stopping in front of the mirror to look at her reflection. She thought she looked rather good, even though the clothes were too loose.

"You look really good," Sirius whispered in her ear, putting his arms around her waist. "Do you want to have a shower?"

"No thanks. Too many boys in here."

She gestured towards Remus, Peter and Edward, who all looked away and pretended they were not listening.

"Besides, I thought you had a hangover," she said, turning to Sirius with her eyebrows raised.

Sirius shrugged. "I can handle alcohol."

Venus laughed. "Oh, really? Then I should tell you what you did yesterday, you'll be less arrogant, believe me. But I'll tell you later, I really have to go now or I'll be late. Thanks for yesterday, Remus."

She waved at Remus and quickly left. Sirius turned to Remus and looked at him inquiringly.

"Why did she thank you and not me?" he asked.

Remus stared back at him blankly. "Mate, _you got sick on her clothes_."

Sirius turned to look at his reflection in the mirror. He tilted his head to the side and smiled at himself.

"True," he admitted. "She looked good in my clothes, though. I really should get drunk more often."


	22. Early Christmas Spirit

22

Early Christmas Spirit

"Please pass me the butter, my sweet rose."

Lily complied with James's request, deciding that she was still too sleepy to cringe at the pet name. Sirius merely smiled and flattered himself for being magnanimous enough not to tease James about it. For a few minutes, James, Venus and he resumed talking about Quidditch, while the others ate their breakfast in silence. But then James did it again.

"Are you okay, my red pearl?" he asked Lily with concern. "You look-"

But the end of his sentence was covered by Sirius's and Venus's loud laughter. Obviously, Sirius's magnanimity had been beaten by James's words.

"_My red pearl_," Sirius choked. "Honestly!"

He and Venus looked at each other and started sniggering again. Even Remus and Anna were trying to hide a smile. Lily had blushed and was biting her lip as thought to prevent herself from laughing. As James looked helplessly at them all, he saw that her wide green eyes were dancing.

"Well," Lily said, with as much dignity as she could muster. "I'm perfectly fine, thank you."

But Sirius and Venus were still smirking.

"Could you pass me the salt, my shining star?" Venus asked, her face earnest.

"Certainly, my dearest little angel," he replied.

Both of them burst out laughing; this time, the others couldn't help but joined them. Shaking her head, Lily put her hand over James's and smiled kindly at him.

"Won't you all stop making fun of me?" James said, his cheeks slightly red.

But this was not very convincing as he had been laughing too. After a while, Sirius and Venus managed to stop snickering and they were able to head towards the Potions classroom.

* * *

"This potion, which was discovered in the fifteenth century by a Spanish wizard, is used to cure common and minor diseases." 

"Excellent! Five points to Slytherin."

Slughorn beamed at Snape. He then turned and walked back towards his desk, unaware that most of the pupils seemed bored to no end.

"Absolutely fascinating," Sirius said loudly, yawning.

"_Spiffing_," James added snidely.

A few people, Venus included, sniggered along with them. Snape did not give them the satisfaction of turning to face them. He just sat still in his chair, his face as white as ever. Slughorn had frozen in his tracks. He was grateful that the pupils couldn't see his face, because he didn't know how to react. What he didn't know was that the students were too busy staring at Snape expectantly to care about the teacher's reaction, or, in this case, lack of.

"Maybe Potter and Black could tell us how this potion is prepared, Professor?" Snape suggested in a silky voice.

He and his fellow Slytherins smirked as Sirius's and James's faces fell. Slughorn took Snape's suggestion seriously and turned to the two boys, expecting an answer.

"Certainly, we can tell you," James said quite arrogantly.

He simply waited until a rolled up piece of parchment slowly and discreetly, because magically lifted, landed on his desk. Sirius didn't need to be told twice; or rather, he didn't need to be told at all.

"Look, everyone!" Sirius suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the other end of the classroom, behind Slughorn's back. "A bird!"

Predictably, most of the others looked this way, including Slughorn.

"But I can't see anything, Mr Black," Slughorn said, confused.

"I'm sorry," Sirius smiled. "But, Professor, you decorated this room so beautifully, you'd think there are birds everywhere."

A few people snorted at the incongruous compliment, and it turned into an almost general stifling of laughter when Slughorn beamed at Sirius and said:

"Why, thank you, m'boy."

Sirius knew that by now, James would have read the parchment and memorized it. Indeed, when Sirius looked at James, the latter winked at him.

"But back to the point," Slughorn said. "Mr Potter, would you answer the question?"

"Of course, sir."

James glanced around him to see the effect he had produced. His eyes fell on Lily's back; her not wanting to turn around to look at him didn't seem to be a good sign. But he explained exactly how this potion was prepared, thanks to Remus Lupin's gracious help. When he was done, Slughorn seemed satisfied and gave five points to Gryffindor. Then, he went back to the lesson. Grinning broadly, James threw back the rolled up piece of parchment to Remus, adding the following note:

_Thank you, Moony. I really don't deserve you, you know that? However, can you, please, not tell _anyone,_ especially not my gorgeous girlfriend (I'm talking about LILY EVANS here) that you told me the answer? You'll have the eternal gratitude of a fellow Marauder._

As he read, Remus rolled his eyes so many times that Slughorn asked him if he wanted to go to the Hospital Wing to "have those eyes fixed".

"I wish I could have seen Snivelly's face!" James said.

He and Sirius laughed as they stepped out of the Potions classroom. Making fun of Snape had been the only funny moment of the lesson, which in itself had bored them out of their minds, but they were happy that, thanks to them, the others had laughed at Slughorn and Snape. _Well, not all the others_, James reflected as he caught a glimpse of Lily, who was storming out of the classroom.

"Lily!" he called.

She didn't turn and just kept on walking, her fiery red hair bouncing. James continued calling her name and was strongly reminded of the time when they were not dating and when she pretended she didn't hear him. Finally, Lily turned around.

"What do you want?" she asked rather coldly.

Again, it reminded James of the way she spoke to him back when she hated him. He did not like that at all. But Lily had been disappointed by him, having thought he was less arrogant.

"I just wanted to walk to the next class with you," he replied.

He shrugged and smiled at her. Under his smile, Lily's anger seemed to fade away gradually. Her shoulders relaxed and she sighed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. Well, I meant to, but-"

She trailed off and gave him an apologetic smile. He took it as a permission to walk with her to the Transfiguration classroom.

"It's just the way you made fun of Snape," Lily said as they resumed walking. "Like you thought giving a right answer in class is something you can laugh at."

James glanced sideways at her and saw that she was staring at her feet. He thought he knew why his making fun of Snape had made her angry.

"It's not that," James replied. "It's just the way he does it."

He shook his head as he had tried to explain to Lily many times just _why_ it was fun to laugh at Snape, but had always failed.

"Still, I don't see what's wrong in giving a right answer in class," Lily mumbled, aggrieved.

"I want you to know I'd never make fun of you for that," James said.

He was smiling, but his eyes were serious. He knew this was a rather sensitive point in their relationship. After all, he had always been the mischief-maker, and Lily had always been the studious one.

"Actually, I find the Miss Know-It-All side of your personality rather attractive," he confessed.

He blushed slightly and Lily finally looked at him, all traces of anger gone. Now she looked amused.

"I didn't know that," she said, chuckling.

"Don't tell Sirius, though," James said earnestly, but his eyes were twinkling. "He'd make fun of me."

Lily's smile broadened and she shook her head.

"By the way, I was rather surprised you knew the answer for the potion," she said, frowning.

James smiled mischievously but said nothing. He did not want to lie to Lily, but did not wish to disappoint her either. However, he was starting to realize that Lily was much too clever not to guess who the answer had come from.

"Remus told me," he finally admitted.

Lily smirked. "I knew it."

"I knew you knew it, Miss Know-It-All."

"Oh, shut up," Lily laughed.

They came rushing into the Transfiguration classroom, both of them smiling widely. McGonagall frowned at them as they took their seats.

"I see your Heads duties helped you to get along better," she remarked with the flicker of a smile.

"Indeed, Professor," James replied earnestly, nodding. "God bless Professor Dumbledore."

* * *

A few days later, in the evening, Anna, Remus, Venus, Sirius and Peter sat in the common room, doing their homework. It was nearly eleven o'clock and they all had a Transfiguration essay to finish, even though they had been studying for hours. 

"Homework should be abolished," Venus stated, yawning.

She stirred, put her quill and parchment down and settled herself on Sirius's lap. Sirius, grateful for an excuse to stop studying, began stroking her hair gently.

"I agree with you," he said. "The teachers have gone crazy!"

"It's the year of the NEWTs," Remus explained tiredly, not looking up from his essay.

For a while, no sounds were heard but for the scratching of quills on the rolls of parchment. Only Anna, Remus and Peter were still studying; Sirius was staring off into space and Venus lay motionless in his arms. After ten minutes Remus and Anna were done, and Sirius and Peter decided to tell McGonagall that they had not had time to finish it.

"Well I'm off to bed," Anna announced, standing up. "You're coming, Venus?"

She frowned as she looked at Venus, which made the others look at her as well.

"Is she sleeping?" Remus asked, amused.

"I think she is," Anna replied, smiling. "You two look so cute."

Sirius couldn't help but laughed as he imagined Venus's expression if she had heard Anna's words. Still smiling, he shook her shoulder gently to wake her up. She opened her eyes, sat up and stared at him, looking very tired.

"I fell asleep, didn't I?" she asked.

"Yes, you did," Sirius answered with a smile. "I must be very comfortable."

Venus rolled her eyes and kissed him goodnight. Then she and Anna made their way up to their dormitories in silence; as soon as she reached her bed, Venus lay on it happily. Doing homework at night really tired her.

"Do you think the boys went up as well?" Anna asked quietly after a while.

Venus smiled in the dark. "Knowing Sirius, the answer is no."

"Where do you think they went, then?"

"They probably went Marauding," Venus replied.

And she was partially right, because at that moment Sirius, Peter and Remus were not in their dormitories, but waiting for James in his bedroom like he had told them to.

* * *

Lily was almost in pain from too much smiling and giggling. For the past two hours she had laughed and talked with James like never before. As soon as they had finished their homework he had led her out of their Tower but he would not tell her where they were going. He insisted that it should be a surprise. As he had explained it to her later in the evening, they were in the Room of Requirements, which was currently a cosy and beautiful room. She had found a bunch of lilies on the table, expectedly her favourite flowers, and had enjoyed an extremely good dinner. To be totally honest with herself, she had not thought that James was capable to do such a thing. 

"And then I said the Blacks were one of the most despicable families in England, expecting him to snarl at me, but he just said he agreed with me, all this with such a grave expression that I had to laugh," James said, finishing his story of how he had first met Sirius, on the train ride to Hogwarts.

Lily smiled back at him. They talked so easily, like she had not hated him just a few months ago. She had hardly ever enjoyed herself so much, and never had had such a good time with James Potter. He had asked her to the Ball and she had said that she would really be glad to go with him. However, she was starting to be tired. James saw her yawning.

"You're tired," he said. "Do you want to go to bed?"

She shifted in her chair but nodded. He just smiled and she was grateful that he did not make fun of her habit of going to bed rather early or earlier than him anyway. They stood up and he led her by the hand, out of the Room of Requirements and towards their Tower. Neither of them spoke, but their eyes often met and they shared a smile of complicity. They walked in content and comfortable silence until they reached their bedrooms' doors.

"Lily Evans," James said solemnly, "do you realize you have broken the school's rules by wandering the castle after curfew."

His eyes glittered mischievously as she gasped. It had not occurred to her that indeed, for the first time she had broken the rules. Maybe James had a bad influence on her? Lily shook her head. She had spent one of the best nights of her life, and that was all that mattered.

"Are you okay, Lily? I didn't mean to frighten you," James said with concern, but with the flicker of a smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied thoughtfully. "I just realized that you're probably killing the rational part of my personality."

He frowned and she laughed at his clueless expression.

"Never mind what I say," she shook her head, smiling. "All you need to know is that I've had a great evening. The flowers, the dinner, the fact that it was a surprise... I liked everything."

James looked relieved. Had he thought I could not have enjoyed myself? Lily wondered. She smiled reassuringly and kissed him.

"You've been a real prince charming tonight," she whispered. "Your mother would be proud of you."

She didn't notice James's disappointment and confusion because she turned to enter her bedroom, leaving James to stare at the closed door, dumbfounded. He managed to step into his own bedroom and fell on his bed, his mind racing. What had Lily meant by "your mother would be proud of you"? Had she really been bored to death? Because it could, to James's mind, only mean that she had been very bored.

"So?"

James started. He had been so lost in thoughts that he had not seen his three friends standing right in front of him. He looked up at Sirius, who had spoken, and shrugged.

"She said my mother would be proud of me," he whined.

The three boys goggled at him. James sighed, sat up and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Whatever you did tonight, it was all wrong," Sirius said, shaking his head and looking shocked.

James nodded dismally and sighed again.

"Definitely," Peter nodded, choosing that siding with both Sirius and James was the best thing to do.

James winced and glanced at Remus, who was smiling slightly and looking highly amused.

"You lot are desperately stupid," he stated.

He laughed at his friends' protestations.

"But maybe you could teach us, Remus The Wise?" James said moodily.

"Has Lily ever met your mother, Prongs?" Remus asked mildly.

James had not expected this at all. He looked at Sirius and they sniggered.

"Seriously, what does this have to do with what Lily said?" James asked, still laughing slightly.

"Everything," Remus snapped.

Something in his voice made his friends look at him warily. He seemed to realize he had sounded too harsh but did not bother to apologize.

"Well, she's met her twice," James finally answered Remus's question. "At the station, when my mother was waiting for me. My mum agreed with me to declare that Lily is very kind and intelligent. Lily said that she had found my mother very nice, and that she wondered how she could have had a son such as me."

Sirius smirked as James looked affronted at the memory. Remus bore the expression he usually had in class when he knew the answer.

"Then Lily was only paying you a compliment," he said reasonably. "She likes your mother and she thinks you behaved just the right way tonight, therefore it was a compliment."

It took ten minutes to convince James of this truth. Once James had declared Lily's compliments were very strange and he'd rather she told him he was funny or handsome, like all the other girls said to him, Remus decided they could leave. James closed the door after them with a smile on his face and fell asleep instantly. He dreamt of Lily. She wore a wedding dress and said that his mother would be proud of him if she had been able to be there. In his dream, James rolled his eyes at the comment and Lily threw a big bunch of flowers at him.

* * *

On the next day, Lily and James had to patrol during the evening, something which had become much more interesting since they were dating, because they could make 'snogging pauses', as James liked to call them. However, it did not prevent them from telling off the students that were not in their beds after curfew, _especially_ the ones that were out snogging. James pointed out to her that cupboards on the third floor were the places where she could find them. They opened two cupboards without finding anything, but opening the third one they found a couple kissing. The couple broke their embrace and gasped. 

"What the hell-?"

Sirius trailed off as he recognized James's face and Lily, standing behind him, looking embarrassed and slightly disapproving.

"Sorry mate," James said, smirking. "Didn't mean to interrupt you, really, but you know _all _students have to be in their dormitories at this hour."

Lily could not see the girl's face well because of the near darkness.

"I hope it's Venus," she muttered to herself.

"Nope, it's McGonagall," the girl said sarcastically. "_Lumos_."

Venus's beautiful face was lit up by her wand and Lily seemed relieved. However, Venus was obviously disgruntled that they had disturbed them.

"Thanks for giving me the image of me and McGonagall snogging," Sirius remarked, looking disgusted.

"Anyway," Venus kept on, ignoring Sirius's intervention, "no offence, but if you guys could go away, that might be nice."

"Yeah, as you see, we're kind of busy," Sirius added, smirking.

He pulled Venus towards him and James got the message.

"Don't stay up too late, though," James said mischievously.

"Ha ha. Good night, Mr Perfect Prefect."

With that, Sirius closed the door. James and Lily looked at each other, smiling slightly.

"I haven't seen anything," James declared.

"Me neither," Lily agreed.

She thought they would leave now, but James stayed there. Chuckling, he opened the door and once more interrupted his friends.

"Oh James!" Venus complained. "You're being really annoying."

"If you do that again," Sirius threatened dramatically, "I shall transgress rule number two of the Marauders' Code."

"Sorry, couldn't resist," James apologized.

Still laughing, he closed the door and started walking away.

"What's rule number two?" Lily asked, following him.

"Never prank a fellow Marauder," James answered without turning.

He walked fast. After one minute, Lily realized she couldn't see him anymore.

"Wait for me!" she called.

She almost ran and nearly bumped into him. The feeble light from his wand stressed the twinkle in his eyes.

"What's it, Evans?" he teased. "Afraid of the dark?"

"I wouldn't play that game if I were you, _Potter_."

"You know, this use of our last names strangely arous-," Lily hit him. "Ouch, that hurt."

* * *

"Lily! Just got back!" 

Lily smiled from inside the bathroom. She had had a long day: classes, a huge amount of homework, a talk with Dumbledore about the Ball, and tutoring a group of first years in Charms and DADA. James had avoided the latter two because he had Quidditch practise. But Lily had half-forgotten it when she had come back to the Heads' Tower and found herself alone, while she had hoped to find comfort in James's arms.

"I'm taking a bath. I'll be out in a few minutes."

That was when she had realized that she had a new constant in her life: when she felt down, James was always there to cheer her up with his mischievous yet caring hazel eyes and his words of reassurance. And it felt exceedingly good. Lily was still smiling as she got out of the bath. She dressed up and, as she looked critically at her reflection in the mirror, her smile faded slightly. She looked tired; her eyes were rounded by dark circles.

Her eyes. She had mixed feelings about them. She thought the combination of her startlingly green eyes and red hair made her look queer. But James had told her it was the thing that made him first notice her, on the first train ride to Hogwarts. That, and her tripping over her soulcase as she walked by where he was sitting, afraid of this new world as she was. She chuckled at the memory as she stepped out of the bathroom, even though at the time she had not laughed at all.

"Why are you laughing, my sweet rose?"

Lily tried not to roll her eyes. She wondered how James managed to be both irresistibly cute and hopelessly ridiculous.

"I told you not to call me that," she protested, but she was smiling.

He was standing in front of the window, looking out. She walked towards him and nudged in his arms. He hugged her back and then broke the embrace to stare at her with concern.

"You look tired," he noted softly.

"So do you," she replied.

"Yeah, we had a rough Quidditch practise."

He smiled and kissed her cheek. Lily grinned back and forgot all about her weariness and her long day.

"Look, it's snowing," he said, gesturing towards the window.

The first snowfall of the school year. Lily was glad to be warm inside and to look at the cold December night. She liked to watch the snow fall, but hated being cold.

"D'you think the other Marauders went marauding outside without you?" she asked.

"Maybe," James replied quietly. "Sirius loves when it snows."

"I expect he loves snowballs fights."

They laughed.

"Moony has paid the price of this passion of Sirius's on countless occasions," James said affectionately.

They fell silent. James seemed to be reminiscing memories of snowballs fights. The fire seemed to emanate more from James's eyes than from the fireplace. His face looked tired, but his eyes had their usual twinkle. Lily sighed contentedly as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I love you, James."

The words had slipped out of her mouth before she realized she was actually saying them. It must have been the magic of the moment. However, she had never been so sincere. Newt to her, James seemed to have frozen. She dared not look at him. After what seemed like ages to Lily, he pulled her towards him and she could _feel_ he was smiling.

"I love you too, Lily."


	23. Lily Potter?

23

Lily Potter?

Remus Lupin was an enigma to her, even though they had been together for eight months. Most of the time, he was only what you first saw of him: a thoughtful, shy and bookish boy. But his life was ruled by the moon; Anna had soon learnt that his mood depended on it. During the days just before full moon, he was surprisingly mischievous, even flirtatious sometimes. She knew Remus was a Marauder, but, until dating him, she had not really seen through his usually quiet and shy behaviour. But there was still another side to his personality, something she struggled to make him forsake: his reluctance to speak about his lycanthropy, and to let her see him on the day after the full moon. But she really wanted to help him, to be there for him when he needed her most. Only once had she visited him on a day after; it was just at the beginning of their relationship. She had learnt about her stepbrother's birth and had been feeling confused and unnerved, therefore she had gone to see Remus. Even though he had comforted her, he had told her afterwards that he really didn't like her to see him in this state and since then there had been an implicit understanding between them that she should not visit him on the day afters.

Today she respected his wish as well. The full moon had been two nights before, and Remus had stayed the whole two days in the hospital wing. He was still in there at the end of Friday and Anna went to visit him as soon as classes ended. James and Lily, who had to prepare the coming Ball, had promised they would pass by later, Peter had to study and Sirius and Venus had told her they had something to do before joining her. Possibly snogging, Anna thought, rolling her eyes as she entered the hospital wing. But her smile faded away when she spotted Remus; he was lying on his bed with his eyes closed. She walked towards him and sat down on the chair next to his bed.

"Hello," she whispered, not knowing if he was asleep or not.

But he opened his eyes and smiled at her. "Hello."

"How are you feeling?" she asked with concern.

"I've been worse. Two days of rest were necessary, but now I'm feeling better."

She gave him the box of Chocolate Frogs she'd brought for him, knowing his addiction to chocolate.

"Thanks," he said gratefully as he took a Frog and ate it.

"I also brought you a book," Anna said. "You must have already read it though."

She handed it to him and he read the title aloud.

"Romeo and Juliet."

Someone snorted from behind Anna. The blonde girl turned around, frowning, to discover a boy lying on the bed next to Remus's. To her mind, he did not look too ill; he was smirking.

"Who are you?" Anna asked, and her voice was slightly colder than usual.

"Dylan Perkins, fifth year from Slytherin," the boy replied rather proudly.

"Well thanks for your clever interruption," Remus said stiffly. "Now what were we talking about?"

Anna turned back to him and decided to ignore the Slytherin who was still making fun of them, though in silence. But before she could answer, someone stormed in the room and sat down next to her. She turned to a very angry-looking Venus, surprised.

"Hello, Remus," Venus said rather roughly. "Feeling better?"

Instead of replying, Remus studied her expression and said, "Okay, what's he done again?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Venus replied bluntly.

She spoke with her head held high and her eyes were flashing, but Remus was not impressed. He stared back at her until she finally gave in. She stood up and started pacing.

"He's just being his usual flirtatious self," she snapped. "And he lies."

"Who's he?" asked a voice from behind her.

She turned around sharply to glare threateningly at the boy.

"Who are you?" she spat.

"He's a git from Slytherin," Remus said before the boy could answer.

"I thought those were synonyms," Venus said snidely. "Anyway, I'm not staying since Mr Black will be coming soon I suppose, but I wanted to check on you."

In spite of himself, Remus looked surprised. After all, he didn't know Venus that well, and he had not thought she was the kind of person to really care for other people.

"Come on, I'm not that selfish," Venus protested, seeing his surprise. "I care about you. I know I'm not what we call kind, but it doesn't mean I don't have feelings. I guess I just don't know how to express them."

"I know, Venus," Anna said gently, looking at her in concern as Venus still paced around Remus's bed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude -" Remus said, embarrassed.

"It's okay," Venus cut in firmly. "It's my fault."

"Do my ears deceive me or is Venusta Vance really admitting that she's wrong?" said an amused voice from behind Venus.

Sirius had come in the hospital wing and was walking towards them.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Black," Venus said slowly, obviously making great efforts not to explode. "But are _you _going to apologize?"

Sirius sighed as he made his way towards the other side of Remus's bed. He stood with his arms crossed stubbornly over his chest, looking at Venus.

"Look, I already told you, but you wouldn't listen to me. _She _kissed me and –"

"_Are you going to apologize?" _Venus repeated with a suppressed rage.

Her eyes were flashing with anger again. Anna and Remus, in spite of their slight embarrassment to be in the middle of the couple's fight, turned their heads from Venus to Sirius as thought they were attending a tennis match.

"No, I'm not!" Sirius said just as angrily. "I've got nothing to be sorry about! I didn't do anything!"

"Alright, because _I _walk around the castle kissing boys _you _hate in the corridors?" Venus almost cried. "How would you feel then? If you saw me kissing Caius Lorry, for instance?"

Sirius winced at the thought and closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. Remus was grateful Madam Pomfrey wasn't around.

"As I told you, _she _kissed me, I didn't kiss her. That makes a difference. You know I don't care about her," Sirius pleaded.

"I'm sorry," Remus risked, "but who's she?"

"Victoria Bell," Venus uttered with disgust. "I saw she and Sirius kissing just a few minutes ago –"

"Do you not listen to what I say?" Sirius exclaimed. "How many times do I have to tell you that it's not my fault?"

"You let her kiss you for a moment before you pulled away," Venus stated coldly.

"If 'a moment' is five seconds, then yes, I'm guilty," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Anna bit her lip and turned cautiously to Venus. She didn't like much to interfere, but she hated to see them arguing. She might be naïve, but she believed Sirius.

"You know, I'm sure Sirius is telling the truth," Anna said.

The moment she saw Venus's expression, she regretted her words. She should know better than to choose side. Remus smiled at her sympathetically.

"How can you be so sure?" Venus snapped, then looked back at Sirius. "Would you like it if you saw me kissing someone you hate, say… your brother?"

At once Sirius's face changed and Venus knew she'd crossed a line there. When she was angry, she said foolish things.

"Oh I'm sorry," she said immediately. "I shouldn't have said that."

Seeing that Sirius's face was unreadable, she sighed and shook her head. Why did she always have to overreact when she was angry?

"I mean it, Sirius, I'm sorry," she said sincerely.

She cautiously made her way towards him and stood next to him in uncomfortable silence for a while. Little by little, Sirius's expression softened.

"Do you forgive me?" Venus asked.

"Do _you_ forgive me?" Sirius said, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, now I'm only angry with Victoria," Venus laughed derisively. "I'm sorry I overreacted, but I'm rather jealous."

"_Rather_, yeah," Sirius said, smiling.

Venus blushed slightly and looked around.

"I'm sorry we had to argue in public," Venus said quickly, "and I'm sorry I mentioned your family –"

"Wow that makes many apologies! My friends, we shall remember this day!"

"Don't joke, I'm serious," Venus said, but she was smiling. "And if you make that serious Sirius joke, I'm killing you _right now._"

Sirius pouted as he was about to make that precise joke. "Without kissing me first?"

"Probably not," Venus admitted, grinning.

One week before the Ball, James gloomily entered the common room. In truth, he'd rather smell Snape's hair than go there. Well, almost. Actually, it was Lily, the incarnation of sense, who had convinced him that he just _had _to tell his friends anyway. Never put off to tomorrow something that you can do today, she'd said. Like every teenager, James hated that saying. But he'd listened to Lily, as always, even if he'd rather die than admit it to Sirius! No, it was all his idea and he'd better start believing in it. He noticed that a few pupils looked at him strangely. He figured he looked really bad, but didn't care at the moment.

* * *

« Hey James! » Venus waved once she'd seen him. 

James didn't wave back but winced as he managed to make his way towards were his friends were sitting. He took a seat himself, as far from Sirius as possible. He did fear a physical reaction.

« What's up, Prongs? » Sirius asked. « I'm glad you're here. I was getting bored. »

« That's awfully nice for us, » Venus rolled her eyes.

« You're welcome, really, » Sirius said, smiling. « My kindness is natural. I can't help it if I'm good-hearted, now can I? »

Anna and Remus smiled slightly and Peter giggled, but James's face was a stone.

« Indeed, you can't, » Venus muttered, but her eyes were sparkling.

« You look like something's bothering you, » Remus said with concern, looking at James.

James sighed and then looked at Anna and Venus. Better to have as little witnesses as possible.

« I need to have a Marauder talk, » he said gravely.

« Wow, we haven't had one of these since fourth year, Prongs, you know that, » Sirius said.

He was frowning, intrigued, and Venus found it irresistible for some reason. She shook her head and turned her gaze back to James; it seemed that it was not time to gape at her boyfriend's beauty. She was actually dying to know why James looked so gloom and spoke so gravely.

« We need to talk, » James just said. « Dormitories. Now. »

« Hey, we're not dogs, show some politeness! » Sirius protested.

They all looked at him.

« Okay, I'm a dog, sort of, but doesn't mean I don't deserve respect! »

Remus shook his head. « We'd better go before he starts telling us about how bad dogs are treated. »

« If you know by advance what I'm going to say, Moony, it's no fun, » Sirius pouted.

Remus just smiled and followed James and Peter out of the common room. Sirius stayed behind for a minute and leaned over to whisper in Venus's ear:

« I saw how you were looking at me before. »

Venus feigned surprise. « I don't know what you're talking about. »

Sirius shook his head and straightened up with a smirk. « Wrong answer, my goddess. I'll see you later and we'll talk. Or not. »

He winked at her and quickly walked away.

Fortunately for James, the dormitories were empty. He sat down on his former bed, facing his three friends, and looked down. Three seconds of silence were too much for Sirius's infamous patience.

« Well? » he asked, looking at James. « I thought we were here to talk. »

James sighed for the umpteenth time and finally looked up at them. Or rather, at Peter; he knew Peter would support him.

« I screwed up, » James said slowly.

Sirius grinned and composed a bewildered expression. « Merlin's beard! I can't believe you did! »

« James, you were practically born to screw things up, » Remus said softly, smiling too.

James hated that he had to wipe the smiles off their faces. But he had to take his responsibilities. James frowned; he definitely used too many Lily words lately.

« Now what have you done that's so grave? » Remus asked, and he no longer looked amused.

« More grave than hexing people at random? » Sirius said.

« More grave than pulling a prank on a teacher? » Peter said.

« More grave than - »

« Okay, enough! » James interrupted moodily. « I'm a constant screw-up. You're happy now? »

James wanted to lie on the bed but knew he had to see them when telling them. He took a deep breath.

« The Map… got confiscated. »

Remus and Sirius looked at each other and the former beckoned the latter to keep quiet.

« How? » Remus simply asked.

« Well it's stupid really, » James replied, his hands fumbling on the sheets. « Last night I couldn't sleep so I wandered the corridors looking at the Map. I didn't see Filch arrive. »

« You _didn't_ see Filch arrive? » Sirius exploded. « That's partly why we made the Map for! To see when we had to hide from him or other people. »

« I know, » James said weakly.

He hated weakness. Hey, he was usually the leader, not the one who had to account for his failures.

« I was lost in thoughts, » James added, still sounding weak.

Sirius looked angry as he had expected, but what was worse was Remus's expression of disappointment. Peter looked torn between siding with Remus and Sirius or with James.

« I told you that you and I should _not _think too much, » Sirius said darkly. « We are for action, leave the thinking to Moony. See what happens when you think. »

« There's no way of getting it back? » Peter asked, his tone not showing if he resented James or not.

« I guess not, » James shook his head sadly.

« Then there's nothing to add, » Remus said coldly.

He stood up, soon imitated by Sirius and Peter, who kept glancing at James apologetically.

« Wait! » James said desperately as they were near the door. « We're too old now for this Marauders stuff anyway, aren't we? »

The moment he saw Sirius's expression, he regretted his words. He had crossed a line there.

« I didn't mean that, » James quickly said. « It's just that Lily said it to me and - »

« Oh, if Miss Evans said it, then it must be true, » Sirius interrupted sarcastically.

« Let it drop, Sirius, » Remus said mildly. « We won't have the map back anyway. »

James's throat felt terribly dry. He looked down and sighed deeply.

« I'm sorry, » he said.

But they were already gone.

* * *

Venus looked up from her magazine just in time to see Sirius run down the dormitories step, followed by Remus and Peter. He walked past her as though he didn't even see her. 

« Sirius! » she called as he was leaving.

« What? » he said, turning.

His eyes were flashing. Venus knew better than to bother him when he was angry, but she wanted to know the reason why he was furious, and make him calm down if she could.

« Where are you going? » she asked as she stood up.

« I'm going to take a walk outside, » he answered, sounding very far away.

Venus turned back to where she had been sitting and saw that Remus and Peter were sitting in silence next to Anna. Venus looked at the blonde girl, frowning. Anna made a helpless gesture with her hand.

« You're kidding me? It's dead cold outside! » Venus said.

Sirius shrugged and turned to leave without a word. Venus sighed and followed him out of the common room.

« Sirius, please wait! »

He was practically running down the stairs and she couldn't catch up with him. He finally slowed down and stopped abruptly, causing her to bump into him. He looked down at her without giving away his feelings.

« What do you want? » he just asked.

Before she could answer, he resumed running down the stairs.

« I just want to know what's wrong, » she said, breathless.

They were outside now. It was freezing; Merlin, it was _snowing. _Fortunately, Sirius finally stopped walking to sit down on the stairs leading to the entrance of the castle. She sat down next to him, suddenly wishing she was back at the common room, warming up by the fire

« James lost something, » Sirius finally said, not looking at her. « I can't tell you what it is, but it was something important to us Marauders. »

He laughed derisively and she frowned.

« I bet you've always thought this Marauder thing was ridiculous, » he said.

« You're joking? » she exclaimed. « I'm dead jealous! I've always secretly wanted to be a Marauder. »

She blushed slightly, having not wanted to reveal so much. He glanced at her briefly, surprised.

« Really? I never knew you did. »

« You know why _in fact_ I didn't really want to be a Marauder? »

« No, why? »

Venus smiled. « Because I was convinced you were an insufferable prick. »

« Ah, of course, » he said, smiling back at her. « But I _am _a prick, aren't I? »

« Sure. But one gets used to you and sometimes you can be… tolerable. »

He shook his head as she laughed, glad she'd made him smile.

« You're _my _prick, tolerable or not, » she added gently.

She kissed him on the cheek and enjoyed what was one of their only tender moments since neither of them was quite the romantic.

« You'll forgive James, right? » she whispered.

« Of course I will. I'm just sad he lost it. »

He thought about it for a moment and sighed.

« I guess it's time for me to grow up, » he finally said.

* * *

James left the dormitories and headed back to the Heads' Tower. He opened the door to find Lily sitting on a couch, waiting for him. She looked up and smiled at him. He forced a smile back and sat down next to her. Next second he was holding her in his arms. 

"It will get better soon, I'm sure," she said soothingly. "They'll forgive you, don't worry."

He ran his hand through her hair and kissed her forehead. He then stared at her thoughtfully.

"I just love you so much," he said. "I'm afraid of losing you."

"You won't lose me, James," she replied sincerely. "Everything will be okay."

She gave him a hug and he felt a little better. After a while, she cleared her throat and looked at him cautiously.

"I'm sorry to ask you this, but I just finished my homework and there are things which need to be done for the decoration of the Great Hall."

"I'm sorry, Lily, not tonight," James shook his head.

"I was thinking of having the walls covered with frost, and also of many, huge silver pieces of tinsel."

"Whatever you choose will be great," he said darkly.

"Come on, Jamesie, I hate it when you're sad," she said, smiling.

"Don't call me that," he protested, smiling back at her.

"Ah, I made you smile!" she said happily.

"I can't be sad for long when I'm with you," he admitted.

"Sometimes you say such beautiful things to me that I wonder how it is that one year ago I thought you were the most selfish and thoughtless prick on earth."

James chuckled and shrugged.

"That will remain the mystery of Lily Po – I mean, Evans."

He bit his lip and blushed.

"You were going to say Lily Potter, weren't you?" Lily asked slowly.

"Yes, I was," James admitted. "I don't know what –"

"It's okay, James," she interrupted him. "Don't explain."

He sighed of relief, because he truly didn't know how he could possibly explain this. Meanwhile, Lily had a curious thought: _Lily Potter… I quite like the sound of it._

* * *

During the next few days, James discovered that life wasn't quite that good when his friends wouldn't talk to him. He was really sad that Filch had the Map, and he also regretted what he'd said about being "too old for that Marauder stuff". Clearly he'd hurt them and he felt really bad about it, even if he didn't have much time to brood because he and Lily were busy preparing the Ball. One evening, however, as he was having dinner with Lily in the Great Hall, Sirius, Remus and Peter came to him. 

"I'm really sorry," James said at once.

Sirius raised a hand to stop him. "We know that."

"And we forgive you," Peter said.

Lily quickly finished her meal and tactfully left.

"I was just afraid you didn't care about us as much as you did before," Sirius said quietly. "What with your dating Lily you're not around much, and you seem to… I don't know…"

"She influences you," Remus said.

"Thanks Moony, that's what I meant to say," Sirius nodded.

"She doesn't influence me…" James said unconvincingly, frowning.

"It's not necessarily a bad thing," Remus said. "But Sirius doesn't like it much."

"I can't help but miss the time when you didn't date her and we were always together," Sirius admitted. "I know it's a little childish, but that's how I feel. I'm sorry, I should be happy for you."

James thought about it for a moment and then smiled kindly at them, a smile which, whatever James might say, strongly reminded them of Lily's.

"I think I understand, but I don't want you to worry, because you're my best friends and you will always be, Lily or not Lily. Now please sit down. Padfoot, there's your favourite meal."

"Roasted chicken? Great!" Sirius said cheerfully.

For a little while they ate in comfortable silence. Peter said to himself that there was no better time to ask. The truth was that he was a little ashamed to ask, but he didn't want to go to the Ball alone either. Most of the pupils had already got a date.

"Er, Sirius, can I ask you something?" Peter asked.

"You're already asking me something, Wormtail," Sirius remarked. "Go ahead."

"Well, I was wondering if… if you knew a girl who'd like to go to the Ball with me?" Peter almost whispered.

Sirius and James shared a look.

"You know Pete, _you_'re supposed to ask a girl. It's very simple," Sirius said.

"Oh, for you, it is," Remus rolled his eyes. "Keep in mind everyone's not Sirius Black."

Sirius considered this for a moment, and then nodded. "I've got to agree with you, Moony."

That said, he went back to eating his roasted chicken, completely forgetting Peter's question.

"Er, Sirius…" Peter started, unwilling to ask the question again.

"Sirius, you did not answer Peter's question," Remus said, coming to his rescue.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that. I was just thinking about Snape asking a girl for the Ball."

He, James and Peter sniggered, ignoring Remus's disapproving look.

"Anyway, I think I know someone," Sirius said slowly. "But I warn you, she ain't that great."

"I don't care," Peter said. "As long as she's not a female Snape."

Sirius laughed. "A female Snape, can you imagine that?"

"Well I'm not going to, as I don't want to throw up," James said.

"What's her name?" Peter asked.

"Charlene White."

"Oh yeah, I remember her," James said. "You dated her in fifth year."

_For one week or so,_ he finished in his head, smiling slightly.

"Sirius, she still likes you," Remus said, frowning. "It's not a good idea."

"If she likes me, she'll do this for me," Sirius shrugged. "Anyway, how do you know she still likes me?"

"_I_ happen to observe other people, and it's rather obvious," Remus replied stiffly.

"Well _I_ haven't noticed anything," Sirius said heatedly.

"How surprising," Remus muttered under his breath.

"Will you ask her, Padfoot?" Peter asked rather eagerly.

"Alright," Sirius replied. "I just hope she's not going to ask something from me."

"Who's going to ask something from you?" Venus asked from behind him.

The boys, having been engrossed in their discussion, had not seen Anna and Venus coming.

"Beware, here comes Jealous Girlfriend," Sirius muttered.

Venus sat down next to him and kissed his cheek. Now she knew she'd better not be that jealous.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be nosy. Forget I asked."

"Good to see you learn your lessons," Sirius smiled.

"Don't push it, Sirius."

"Yes, ma'am."


	24. The Ball

**¤ author's note ¤ **That's it, the last chapter. It feels weird, since I've started this story over 2 years and a half ago.. I'd like to thank every person who left a review, I hope you'll like this last chapter.

If you liked this story, you can visit my blog h t t p / h e r e - w i t h - m e - s t o r y. b l o g s p o t. c o m (without all the spaces of course, but I can't link directly). Anyway you'll find the link on my profile page. I'll post things about the characters there, and what I think about every chapter, also the critics that some readers have made.

* * *

24

The Ball

A few days later, all the pupils from fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh year were getting ready for the Ball, which was to take place in the Great Hall that very evening. Therefore, that was what Lily Evans was doing, as eight o'clock was dangerously approaching. However, she wasn't as light-hearted as the other pupils, as she and James were responsible for this Ball. They had, with the help of a few teachers, prepared everything. And as she looked at herself in the mirror of her bedroom, Lily worried. What if something went wrong? But something else worried her: her appearance. Even if she didn't like to admit it, she, like every teenager, cared about other people's opinion.

"Not so bad, I guess," she whispered absent-mindedly.

Her hair looked very nice and the make-up did a wonderful job. The thing that bothered her a little was her dress: it was dark red, like the colour of her hair, and a little low-cut. It was nothing like what Lily was used to wearing. Wearing a bright red dress and being the Head Girl, she could be sure everyone would look at her, and it made her really nervous.

"Are you ready, Lily?"

Lily started at the sound of James's voice. They had to leave now. As she checked her appearance one last time in the mirror, she winced. What if James didn't like the way she looked? What if she tripped all over herself and had the shame of her life? Lily shook off those dark thoughts and stepped out of her bedroom to find James looking extremely elegant in his new dark robes. With a nervous smile, she noticed that he had not managed to comb his hair. But it didn't matter, because to her mind, her boyfriend was the most handsome in the whole world.

"You look dashing," she said, smiling.

James kept staring.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Lily felt her worries come back. He didn't like her dress. Or was it the make-up? She hardly ever wore make-up. After what seemed like ages, James finally smiled and found his voice.

"I'm sorry I won't be able to speak coherently for a few minutes," he said, blushing slightly. "Not if I look at you anyway."

She smiled back at him uncertainly, although she could now see the admiration in his eyes.

"Lily," he whispered after a short silence, "you have never looked so beautiful."

"Thank you James," she replied sincerely, slightly relieved.

"I swear, everybody will think I'm stupid as I'll stare at you for the whole evening without uttering a word," he said seriously as he held the door open for her.

"That would surprise me," Lily said, laughing. "Anyway, we must get going now. Being late would be awful."

At this point, James realized that Lily was very nervous. As she took his arm he smiled at her gently.

"Don't worry Lily, everything will be fine."

And as she looked into his warm brown eyes, Lily believed him.

Meanwhile, in the common room, Sirius Black was waiting impatiently. The other pupils had already left, seeing that it was a quarter to eight; the only girl who was late was precisely his own girlfriend. After tapping his foot for two minutes, and humming to himself for another one, he decided to look at his reflection in the mirror. After all, he was one of the most handsome boys in Hogwarts, wasn't he? And that night, as usual, he was quite content with what he saw in the mirror. He wore very elegant black robes and he looked, to his mind, quite perfect. He smiled to himself, showing off his white even teeth.

"I'm sorry I kept you waiting, but I can see you found a good occupation."

At the sound of Venus's voice, Sirius turned around and he just _had_ to gape at her. She was standing on the last step of the staircase to the girls' dormitories, her glowing golden dress magnifying her tall and thin figure and contrasting with her wavy black hair. She also wore an expensive-looking golden necklace. She looked positively magnificent. Sirius's first thought (and it did take him a little while to be able to think) as she stepped towards him was that she looked like a queen, which was rather stupid because no queen had ever been that beautiful. At least, that was Sirius's guess, but then he didn't know much about queens, and Venus made it quite impossible for him to think rationally.

"You look really great," she said, looking at him appreciatively. "I'm proud to go to the Ball with you, you know. Just keep your mouth shut and smile and everything will be alright."

She was teasing him, of course, since she was smiling and her eyes, which matched the colour of her dress, were twinkling. Now that she was closer to him, Sirius could see that her face too was beautiful, and expectant… Oh yes. That must be because Sirius had not said a single word yet.

"Like, wow… Are you for real?" was all he managed to whisper.

After all, he could be day-dreaming. Venus laughed.

"Come and have a feel."

He stepped towards her and put his hand on her shoulder cautiously, as if it would get burnt. He looked genuinely surprised that Venus wasn't an apparition. When Venus kissed him, he could smell the wonderful scent of her hair and was left quite breathless when she pulled away.

"Like, wow," he finally breathed out.

"Couldn't have put it better myself. Now, I think I'll do all the talking tonight."

Running down Hogwarts' staircases with high heels wasn't really great, but Venus knew that if they didn't hurry, they'd be late. When they finally reached the Great Hall, most of the pupils had already come in, but thankfully, they weren't late.

"That was close," Venus said with a sigh of relief.

Sirius still said nothing.

"You know, I quite like it when you don't talk," Venus said, smiling. "Now we must find the others."

They were among the last to enter the Great Hall, which had been beautifully decorated. James and Lily had done a wonderful job. Venus was very proud of them.

As they made their way across the Great Hall, looking for their friends, they were both aware that a lot of pupils were looking at them, or, more precisely, girls giggled and whispered to their friends "oh he's _so_ handsome!" while pointing not so discreetly at Sirius, and boys stared in awe at Venus while their dates scowled at her.

"Talk about making a discreet entry," Venus muttered.

Sirius refrained himself from smiling and waving around. Clearly, he enjoyed the attention. Finally, he spotted their friends and they made their way towards the table where James, Lily, Anna, Remus, Peter and Charlene were sitting. There were also Paige Parker, Venus's cousin, and her friend Emma Taylor, with their dates.

"Good evening everyone," Sirius said cheerfully as they sat down.

"You're talking again!" Venus exclaimed playfully.

"You'd put a spell on me," Sirius said dramatically. "I'm trying to get over it."

That was when they noticed that none of their friends had said a word since they'd sat down.

"Hello? Are you all mute?" Venus asked, frowning.

Her friends looked at each other and Lily finally spoke.

"You're rather… how can I put it? Impressive."

"Impressive?" Venus repeated.

"Well, you look _really _great," James said.

"And if James says so, you really are," Sirius added, smiling, "'cause it's been a _long_ while since he's made such a comment about a girl who's not Li –"

James mercilessly planted his fork into Sirius's hand. Sirius shouted with pain, which made a few more heads turn towards them.

"Thanks Sirius, I think we needed more people looking at us," Venus rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I didn't know you'd be there."

She had turned to Charlene White, who was sitting next to Peter and staring shamelessly at Sirius.

"She's my date," Peter said excitedly, as the girl seemed reluctant to say it.

"Only for tonight," Charlene added eagerly, her eyes still on Sirius.

She was a small, common-looking blonde girl with an ugly nose. Venus had always thought Peggy would have been a good name for her. She had always wondered why Sirius had dated her even for a few days. Actually, she had always thought the girl was an idiot.

"I see," Venus said slowly and disdainfully. "Well, Peter's such a lucky guy, isn't he, Sirius?"

"Mmph," was Sirius's unenthusiastic answer.

Charlene looked disappointed. Peter didn't seem to mind much. Anna looked around appreciatively.

"Lily, James, you made such a wonderful job!" she exclaimed. "The room's beautiful."

"Thanks," Lily smiled, grateful for the change of conversation.

"And you haven't seen everything yet," James said. "It's going to be the best night of our lives."

"This, and the night you and Lily will have s-"

The same fork was planted in the same hand.

* * *

One hour later, the meal was over and Sirius had a very painful hand. He was rubbing it and complaining as he watched the prefects open the dance. James and Lily were dancing as if no one but them existed. 

"Poor darling," Venus said, smiling sympathetically at her boyfriend.

She took his hand and kissed it.

"Maybe I shouldn't say so many stupid and embarrassing things," Sirius said thoughtfully.

Venus rolled her eyes.

"Seventeen years to realize that, you're quite the bright one, Sirius," she said.

"Do you want to dance?" he asked, ignoring her last sentence.

"I'm sure you're a good dancer, aren't you?" she said, smiling.

"He's terrific," Remus nodded.

"Of course I am," Sirius said arrogantly.

"Well show me then," Venus said, standing up.

* * *

"I swear, I'm smiling so much my cheeks are hurting," James confessed. 

Lily laughed. "So are mine. But I'm really having a great time."

"Me too," James said happily as they sat down. "I must say I'm quite proud of all this."

Remus and Anna were the only ones who had not stood up. They were deep in conversation when Lily and James arrived.

"You haven't danced at all?" Lily asked, quite surprised.

"No, we're definitely bad dancers," Anna shook her head.

"And we don't want to be hurt by Sirius," Remus added, smiling.

Venus and Sirius were indeed dancing quite frantically. James laughed and shook his head. A few minutes later, Venus and Sirius were dancing a slow. Venus took a deep breath and said:

"I was wondering if you'd like to come around to my house this summer, to, you know, meet my family."

Sirius raised his eyebrows, quite surprised.

"If you don't want to, that's alright-" Venus added quickly.

"What, you're afraid they might not like me?" Sirius smirked.

"Oh well my mother and my little sister are already fond of you," Venus rolled her eyes.

"Ah, the father," Sirius nodded in understanding.

"If you are your usual flirtatious self in front of him, he might not like it very much."

Sirius kissed her neck, making shivers run down her spine.

"I can't help it if I want his daughter now can I?" he whispered.

They kept on dancing in silence for a moment.

"So…" Venus finally said. "You'd like to come?"

"Sure," he nodded.

She could hardly suppress a sigh of relief. She'd been afraid he might say something like "if we're still together by this summer".

"There might be a little problem, though."

She frowned and waited for him to continue. His face was earnest as he looked at her in the eye.

"Well, I don't know how to state this any other way. Your mother's hot."

She stepped on his foot; although she wasn't angry with him, she didn't like the idea of Sirius thinking her mother was hot. Of course, she was used to men saying her mother was beautiful woman, but it was different when it came from her boyfriend.

Sirius winced. "Venus darling, that was my foot."

She smiled serenely. "I know."

He looked a little offended as he had thought she had not done it on purpose, then realized his remark might not have been the right thing to say. They kept on dancing in silence for a while, until he decided to change the subject.

"I'll show you my flat, too," he said cheerfully. "And my new motorbike."

"What motorbike?" she asked, feigning interest.

"A flying motorbike, with -"

"The song's ended!" Venus cut him off, not really wanting to hear about flying motorbikes for an hour.

"Why am I under the impression that nobody wants to hear about my flying motorbike?" Sirius complained as they made their way towards their table and sat down.

Remus and Venus looked at each other and smiled as Sirius sulked. Five minutes later, he was cheerful again as he looked around the room. James and Lily had stopped dancing and were now parading around the room, saying hello to everyone and making sure to say a word to every single person in the room. At present they were talking with McGonagall and Dumbledore, who seemed to be enjoying himself. When James finally looked his way, Sirius waved at him. James discreetly waved back and smiled. He said a few words to Dumbledore and then quickly made his way towards his friends' table.

"Good evening, Mr President," Sirius said earnestly as his best friend sat down next to him.

"Thanks for giving me a reason to leave. I like Dumbledore, really, but chatting with McGonagall light-heartedly is quite impossible, when I think of all the detentions she gave us, you know."

Sirius nodded sympathetically. "Anyway, you made a great job. We're really having a good time."

"I'm glad you are," James smiled. "Are you enjoying yourself too, Moony?"

"Very much," Remus replied, grinning back at him.

"Where's Wormtail, by the way?" James asked.

"Trying to dance," Sirius replied, laughing slightly.

He pointed at Peter and Charlene who were, as Sirius had said, _trying_ to dance. James chuckled and smiled at Lily as she sat down next to him.

"Would you like to dance with me, Lily?" Sirius asked quite suddenly.

Both James and Lily looked surprised, but the former was inwardly glad that Sirius was making efforts to be friendly towards Lily. Ever since he had lost the Map, their relationship wasn't that good.

"Sure," Lily replied and gave him a kind smile.

"You're stealing my girlfriend, therefore it's only fair if I steal yours, what do you say, Padfoot?"

"I guess it is, my friend," Sirius replied, and the four of them stood up.

James took Venus by the hand and they started to dance a slow, but he couldn't stop looking at Lily. Venus noticed it and smirked.

"He's not going to rape her, you know."

James blushed slightly. "I know. I'm being overprotective."

"It's kind of cute, in a sickly sort of way," Venus laughed.

James's eyes were twinkling when he finally looked at her. "You'd think that was Sirius speaking."

She made to hit his arm, but she was laughing. "Don't annoy me, remember I'd told you about you and Lily."

"Yeah, thanks for believing in me! Just so you know, I'd bet on you and Sirius right from the start."

"Really? You're kidding me?" Venus goggled at him.

"Nope. I swear, ever since the first meal at Hogwarts, I'd bet you two would end up together. Just ask Remus and Peter."

"But we were already fighting! He'd pushed me into the cold lake!"

Venus still looked pained at the memory.

"That's why. You see, he was already in love with you," James teased.

Venus's expression changed and James almost regretted his words. He'd thought Sirius had told her he loved her.

"Are you sure he loves me?" she asked in a low voice, not looking at him.

"In his own way, yes he does."

He smiled at her reassuringly.

"Just give him some more time. You know, it's not easy for him to talk about his feelings."

She nodded thoughtfully as the song ended. "Thanks, James," she said as they made their way back towards their table.

* * *

"You shouldn't have, really." 

He looked at her, shaking his head. It was Christmas day and he was holding a Nimbus 1980, the brand new broomstick Venus had just offered him.

"Come on, I know you've wanted it for ages. And you know my family doesn't lack money."

Sirius seemed to think about it for a moment and then shrugged.

"So, you like the place?" he asked.

She looked around. They were sitting on the edge of the cliff that overhung the lake. The sight was magnificent: everything was covered with snow.

"I love it," she sighed, breathing the cold and pure air. "And the company isn't bad either."

He grinned back at her, making her stomach loop as always.

"You're not too cold, I hope?" he asked.

"I love that smirk of yours, you know."

She smiled and settled herself in his open arms. He held her tight and for a moment they remained silent, admiring the sight below them

"There's something I'd like to tell you," he whispered.

She looked up at him and saw that his cheeks were slightly red. She wondered if it was because of the cold.

"Yes?"

He was not looking at her. "I just want you to know that I-I don't hate you."

She was so not expecting this that she couldn't help but gave a nervous laugh.

"Is that your way of telling me...?"

She trailed off, not knowing if she was ready to say the words and if he was ready to hear them. All she knew was that she was madly in love with him. He looked down at her and smiled slightly, although his eyes were full of doubt.

"I love you."

She closed her eyes and let the words ring in her head in the most pleasant melody she had ever heard. She held her breath and stared at him in the eye, looking for a sign that would tell me he wasn't lying. He didn't blink or look away.

"I love you too, Sirius Black."

She rested her head against his chest, smiling broadly, oblivious to the snow flakes that had started to fall.

* * *

Meanwhile, another happy couple was walking on the snow-covered Hogwarts grounds, making their way hand in hand towards the lake. 

"I'm really happy you stayed here for the holidays, Lily," James said, smiling slightly. "Did you stay for me?"

In fact, they had all decided to stay in Hogwarts for Christmas.

"No, for the homework," she replied earnestly. "With the Ball, I haven't had much time to study."

She laughed at the look of bewildered disappointment on James's face.

"I'm joking!" she exclaimed.

He pretended to be aggrieved as they sat down below the bleach tree on which James had engraved their initials.

"If you want, you can come to my house next summer so you can meet my parents," Lily said, echoing Venus's words without knowing it. "My mum is eager to talk with you properly. I just hope she won't make you run away!"

They smiled at each other. _That certainly won't happen, _James thought.

"And you can come to my place any time you want too," he said.

Lily was still smiling. "I'm so lucky to have you, James."

He looked away and nodded thoughtfully. "Sometimes I think having such luck will somehow make us pay in the future."

He had said this rather darkly, looking up at the gloomy wintry sky. Lily shivered in his arms. She wondered if it was because she was cold or because of the strong forebodingshe suddenly felt. James smiled at her reassuringly and held her tight.

"But for now, I don't care," he whispered in her ear, "because you're here with me."

_THE END_

* * *

**¤ author's note ¤** Please take a few minutes of your time to leave a review and participate to the poll on my profile page so that I can know which one of my stories is your favourite. Thank you very much! 


End file.
